•• 


ANTIETAM 

'TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  THE  BRAVE  MEN  OF  THE  NINTH  NEW  YORK  INFANTRY 
(HAWKINS1  ZOUAVES)  WHO  FOUGHT  UPON  THIS  FIELD,  AND  ESPECIALLY 
TO  THOSE  WHO  DIED  HERE  THAT  THEIR  COUNTRY  MIGHT  LIVE." 


THE 

NINTH  REGIMENT 

NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS 

(HAWKINS'  ZOUAVES) 

BEING 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  REGIMENT  AND 

VETERAN  ASSOCIATION 

FROM.  .1860  TO  1900 


BY 

LIEUT.  MATTHEW  J.  GRAHAM 

n 

COMPANY  "A,"  NINTH  REGIMENT,  N.  Y.  VOLUNTEERS,  AND 
U.  S.  VETERAN  RESERVE  CORPS 


NEW  YORK 
MDCCCC 


•5 

Ttik 


900  • 
;•    ^s»*      &  * 

MATTHEW  J.   GRAHAM 


I  affectionately  dedicate  this  work 
to  my  comrades  who  faithfully  served 
and  valiantly  fought  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Regiment  during  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion. 

M.  J.   GRAHAM. 


M123152 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION  ........................................        i 

CHAPTER  I.  Derivation  of  Name  Zouaves  —  Organiza 
tion  of  the  New  York  Zouaves  in  1860, 
with  Copy  of  Original  Pamphlet  Contain 
ing  By-Laws,  Committees,  etc  ...........  2.1 

"  El.  Organization  of  Civil  Club—  Drill  Master 
Serg't  Benzoni  —  First  Shot  of  the  Civil 
War  —  Firing  on  Fort  Sumter  —  First  Offer 
of  New  York  Troops  —  Organization  of  9th 
N.  Y.  Volunteers—  Field  Officers—  Castle 
Garden  —  Riker's  Island  —  Severe  Drills  — 
New  Uniform  —  Inspection  by  Gen'l  John 
A.  Dix  —  Off  for  Fortress  Monroe  —  Pres 
entation  of  Flags  in  Fifth  Avenue  —  Arri 
val  at  Newport  News  ....................  32 

"  III.  Advance  on  Big  Bethel—  The  First  Battle 
of  the  War  —  General  Carr's  Account  of 
Battle  of  Big  Bethel  —  Account  of  Major 
Winthrop's  Death  by  a  Southerner  - 
Forces  Engaged  and  Losses  Sustained  — 
Zouaves  to  the  Front  —  Colonel  Phelps  and 
his  Peculiarities  —  Right  General  Guide 
Herbert  and  His  Grave  Error  —  Two  Zou 
aves  Attempt  to  get  a  "  Pull  "  with  Colonel 

..................................     55 


IV.  Reconnaissance  by  Companies  A  and  F— 
Skirmish  with  the  Enemy  —  Trouble  about 
the  Relative  Rank  of  Officers—  Decided  by 
Drawing  Lots  —  General  Butler  Super 
seded  by  General  Wool  —  Special  Order  for 


vi  CONTENTS. 


Expedition  to  Hatteras  Inletr* —  Three 
Companies  of  the  Ninth  Join  Expedition 
—  Arrival  off  Hatteras — Bombardment  of 
Forts — Surrender  —  Amount  of  Material 
Captured 70 

CHAPT.  V.  Colonel  Hawkins  Assumes  Command  of 
Post — Correspondence  Between  Colonel 
Hawkins  and  General  Wool — Expedition 
to  Beacon  Island  —  Lieut.-Colonel  Betts 
and  Five  Companies  Rejoin  Regiment  — 
Surrender  of  Gunboat  "  Fannie  "—Attack 
on  2oth  Indiana — General  Williams  Super 
sedes  Colonel  Hawkins  —  Construction  of 
New  Forts  —  Antipathy  of  Men  to  Wil 
liams  — Boys  "  Scouting  "  for  Fresh  Pork 
Seriously  Alarm  the  General  —  Major 
Kimball  and  Two  Companies  Arrive  from 
Newport  News — Arrival  of  Burnside  Ex 
pedition — All  Ready  for  Roanoke  Island- 
Rations  from  the  Sea  —  Wine  Labels 
Passed  as  Currency  —  Robbing  Potato 
Houses 84 

"  VI.  Underway  for  Roanoke  Island— Arrival- 
Engagement  with  the  Forts — Landing  of 
the  Troops  —  Bivouac  in  the  Mud  for  the 
Night  —  Stealing  Bed  from  Beneath  the 
Colonel  —  Army  Moves  on  the  Enemy  — 
Major  Kimball's  Fear  that  the  Men  Might 
Weaken  —  Arrival  in  Front  of  Battery  - 
Order  to  Charge  the  Works  —  Colonel  De- 
Monteil  Killed —  First  Bayonet  Charge  of 
the  War— What  Curie  Saw— Reflections- 
Extracts  from  Reports  of  Generals  in 
Command  —  Capture  of  Captain  Wise  — 
More  Rain — Description  of  Prisoners  ...  119 


CONTENTS.  vii 

PAGE 

CHAPT.VH.  Expeditions  to  Nag's  Head  and  Winton, 
N.  C. —  Ninth  Regiment  Garrisons  Roa- 
noke  Island  —  Resignation  of  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Betts  —  Expedition  under  Major 
Jardine  —  Expedition  to  South  Mills  — 
Terrific  March  —  Battle  of  South  Mills  or 
Camden  —  Heavy  Loss  of  the  Ninth  — 
Death  of  Adjutant  Gadsden  —  Return  to 
Roanoke — Retrospection— General  Reno's 
Report  of  Battle  —  Colonel  Hawkins' 
Report 157 

"  VIII.  Ninth  New  York  Garrisons  Roanoke  Isl- 
land — Recreation  the  Order  of  the  Day — 
Practical  Uses  of  Captured  Powder  — 
Company  K's  New  Battery  Tactics  — 
Innocently  Getting  Square  with  the  Com 
pany  Cook — Testimonial  to  Col.  Hawkins — 
Parade  and  Drill  of  Ninth  Under  Com 
mand  of  Non-Commissioned  Officers  - 
New  Recruits  Troubled  with  "  Lapsy 
Palls  "  Cured  by  Sergeant  Homer — Lieu 
tenant  Flusser,  U.  S.  N.,  Captures  Ply. 
mouth  and  Company  u  F "  Detailed  to 
Garrison  Town  —  Runaway  Slaves  Re 
turned  to  Owner  —  Wessel's  Brigade  Re 
lieves  Company  "  F  " — Enemy  Attack  and 
Defeat  Wessel,  Re-Capture  Plymouth  and 
Kill  Flusser — Burnside  Leaves  for  Fort 
Monroe — Ninth  Leaves  Roanoke  for  Nor 
folk — Camp  for  Contrabands — Losses  of 
Burnside  Expedition 192 

"  IX.  Farewell  to  Roanoke  Island — Arrival  at 
Old  Fort  Norfolk,  Va.—Off  for  Fortress 
Monroe  —  Arrival  at  Falmouth,  Va.  — 
Drills  and  Dress  Parades  a  Promi 
nent  Feature  —  Rumors  of  Disaster  — 


yiii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Army  Deserts  Fredericksburg  and  De- 
troys  Stores  — Pope's  Campaign  and  Dis 
astrous  Failure  —  McClellan  Again  in 
Command  of  Army  of  the  Potomac — Dis 
order  in  Washington  —  Camp  at  Meridian 
Hill — Off  for  the  Maryland  Campaign — 
Description  of  March  —  Skirmishes  With 
the  Enemy  —  Arrival  at  Frederick  City, 
Md. — Hospitality  of  Inhabitants  — Fire  in 
Jail — On  to  Antietam  —  Battle  of  South 
Mountain — Coolness  of  Major  Jardine 
Under  Fire — Death  of  General  Reno  and 
Comments  on  His  Soldierly  Qualities  - 
Arrival  Near  Antietam  —  Night  Before 
the  Battle 238 

CHAPT.  X.  Lieutenant  Graham's  Letter  Descriptive 
of  the  Battle  of  Antietam — Attack  on  the 
Stone  Wall — Great  Bravery  of  the  Troops 
— Ordered  to  Retire  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Kimball's  Protest— General  Wil- 
cox  in  Person  Peremptorily  Orders  Kim- 
ball  to  Fall  Back  —  Assistance  to  the 
Wounded — McClellan's,  Burnside's,  Fair- 
child's,  and  Kimball's  Reports  —  Mr. 
Kirkley's  Statements  of  Total  Killed  in 
the  Civil  War,  and  Proportion  of  Wounded 
to  Killed  —  General  Longstreet's  Com 
ments  on  the  Battle  and  Comparison  with 
Other  Notable  Engagements — Percentage 
of  Regimental  and  Brigade  Loss  of  the 
Ninth  Regiment 281 

"  XL  Retreat  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
— Apathy  of  Fifth  Corps — Camping  on  the 
Antietam — Recruits  for  the  Ninth — Their 
Reception  and  Treatment  by  Lieutenant- 


CONTENTS.  ix 


Colonel  Kimball  and  his  Tribute  to  the 
Old  Regiment j —  Captain  Whiting — Visit 
from  President  Lincoln — The  Loaves  and 
the  Good  Zouaves  —  Hospital  Arrange 
ments — The  Band  Plays  "  Annie  Laurie  " 
for  the  Sick  Men — Promotion  of  Surgeon 
Humphreys  —  Across  Elk  Ridge  to  Pleas 
ant  Valley — "Tenting  on  the  Old  Camp 
Ground" 330 

CHAPT.  XII.  Clothing  and  Camp  Equipage  Left  at 
Meridian  Hill  —  Cleanliness  —  Knapsacks 
Recovered  —  Knapsack  Drill  —  Hunger, 
Cold  and  Marching  —  Three  Columns 
Abreast  —  Company  G  as  Headquarter's 
Guard — Company  K  Joins  General  Kautz 
— General  Burnside  Relieves  General  Mc- 
Clellan  of  the  Command  of  the  Army — 
Scattering  a  Quartermaster's  Train  - 
Good  Artillery  Shooting — Thanksgiving 
Day  at  Falmouth  —  Battle  of  Fredricks- 
burg  —  Stragglers  —  Winter  Quarters  in 
Virginia — On  to  Fortress  Monroe 354 

"  XIII.  Establishment  of  Camp  at  Newport  News 
— The  Ninth  Assigned  as  Provost  Guard — 
Concentrating  Troops—  Sutlers'  Trials — 
Rum  as  a  Disturber  of  Martial  Discipline 
—  Review  of  the  Ninth  Corps — Horse 
Racing  and  Baseball — Enroute  to  For 
tress  Monroe  and  Portsmouth  —  Tele 
grams — Borrowed  Tents  in  Suffolk — An 
Unwarranted  Tragedy  -  -  The  Use  of 
Countersigns — Death  of  Brigadier-Gen 
eral  Corcoran  —  Ominous  Thunders  of 
Mutiny  Calmed  by  General  Getty — Re 
moval  to  Fort  Nansemond  —  Under  Fire 
— Fake  Bullets — Capturing  a  Battery — A 


CONTENTS. 


Lost  Yankee  in  Rebel  Lines — The  Last 
Day — General  Orders  No.  27 — Disappoint 
ment  of  Recruits — Mustered  Out 397 

CHAPT.XIV.  The  Recruits  Left  at  Suffolk  — Lack  of 
Military  Control  —  Volunteering  for  the 
Fight — Camp  Rumors — Private  Reconnoi- 
tering — The  Man  of  Straw — Uncertainty 
and  Anxiety  Among  the  Men  —  Trans 
ferred  to  the  Third  New  York  —  Bossing 
the  Regiment— Off  for  Field  Service  — 
Campaigning  in  South  Carolina — Army 
of  the  James — Army  of  the  Potomac — 
Men  of  the  Ninth  Distinguish  Themselves 
— Regiment  Dwindles  Away  —  Call  for 
Second  Battalion — A  New  Ninth  Organ 
ized — Formation  of  iy8th  New  York  Vol 
unteers  —  Ordered  to  Virginia  —  New 
Ninth  Recruiting— The  July  Riots— Jar- 
dine  and  White  Wounded  —  Rescued — 
Battalion  at  Fort  Hamilton — Seventeenth 
New  York— Ordered  to  the  Front — Pro 
visional  Brigade  —  Service  of  i;8th  — 
Service  of  iyth  —  Men  Who  Served  in 
Other  Regiments 433 

"  XV.  Introduction  to  the  Third  Georgia  —  Va 
rious  Meetings  on  the  Battlefield — Seek 
ing  Old  Foes  After  the  War— The  Ninth 
Visits  the  Third— Incidents  of  the  Visit 
to  Georgia — Speeches — Reception  of  the 
Third  Georgia  by  the  Zouaves— How 
They  were  Treated  by  their  Old-Time 
Foes  —  Banquets  —  Sightseeing  —  Excur 
sions — Departure  of  the  Georgians , 463 


CONTENTS. 


xi 


CHAPT  XVI.  Ceremonies  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Mon 
ument  Erected  on  the  Battlefield  of 
Antietam  in  Memory  of  the  Dead  of  the 
Ninth  New  York  Volunteers — Prelimin 
ary  Work  of  the  Committees— Journey  to 
the  Battlefield— Comrade  Richard's  In 
vocation  —  Comrade  Graham's  Introduc 
tion — Address  by  Colonel  Hawkins — Un 
veiling  the  Monument — Oration  by  Rev. 
Clark  Wright,  of  Company  F  —  The  Pres 
entation  to  General  Carman — Revisiting 
Points  of  Interest — The  Return 493 

"XVII.  After  Muster-Out—Desire  of  the  Men  of 
the  Regiment  to  Retain  the  Flags — Man 
ner  in  which  they  were  Cared  for  — 
Reasons  why  they  Should  be  Trans 
ferred  to  the  State — Correspondence  with 
the  Governor — Names  of  Survivors  who 
were  Present  at  the  Ceremony — Recep 
tion  of  the  Delegation  by  Governor 
Roosevelt  —  Lieutenant  Graham's  Re 
marks  —  Governor  Roosevelt's  Reply- 
Major  DeBevoise's  Sketch  of  Service — 
Taps— The  End 555 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


567 


ERRATA 633 


INTRODUCTION. 

IN  the  taking  of  Fort  Sumter  the  rebels 
served  their  first  notice  upon  the  people  of  the 
loyal  States  of  the  coming  of  one  of  the  most 
momentous  events  known  to  the  history  of  any 
nation,  and  when  two  days  later  President 
Lincoln  called  for  the  levy  of  seventy-five  thou 
sand  troops,  it  was  like  giving  an  order  by  the 
president  of  a  great  railway  company  to  the 
maker  of  toy  engines,  for  a  like  number  of  mogul 
locomotives.  The  call  of  the  President  found 
the  Governors  of  States  about  as  well  prepared 
to  fill  his  order  as  would  have  been  the  makers 
of  the  toys. 

The  patriotic  uprising,  however,  was  complete. 
Millions  of  heads,  hearts  and  hands  were  willing 
to  do  and  to  serve,  but  the  great  "how  to"  had 
to  be  learned,  and  there  were  but  few  teachers 
to  show  the  way. 

There  were  thousands  of  well  disposed,  per 
fectly  inexperienced  patriots  who  honestly  be 
lieved  that  the  matter  of  making  a  good  fighting 
machine  out  of  a  thousand  perfectly  raw  recruits 
would  be  an  easy  one.  Possibly  the  makers 
of  the  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers  were  in 


2         NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

several  important  respects  an  exception  to  the 
general  rule  obtaining  in  relation  to  inexperience. 
In  its  field  and  staff  there  were  three  who  had 
seen  service  in  the  United  States  Army,  two  as 
officers  and  one  as  a  private;  and  in  the  line 
those  captains  and  lieutenants  who  were  edu 
cated  in  the  "Old  Company"  were  well  up  in 
the  Manual  of  Arms,  Bayonet  Exercise,  and 
School  of  the  Company,  and  theoretically,  knew 
something  of  the  School  of  the  Battalion.  In 
addition  to  this  stock  of  professional  quantities 
and  qualities  on  hand,  there  was  youth,  no  end 
of  patriotic  enthusiasm,  ardent  desire  to  learn, 
sincere  wish  to  serve  well,  and  a  striving  for  a 
high  plane  of  excellence  in  the  performance  of 
soldierly  duties.  With  this  capital  on  hand,  the 
"  Ninth"  launched  itself  upon  the  difficult  under 
taking  of  organizing  a  body  of  eight  hundred 
very  young  men  into  a  regiment  of  fighting 
soldiers. 

April  I5th,  1861,  President  Lincoln  issued  his 
first  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  troops — it 
ought  to  have  been  a  million,  and  possibly 
would  have  been  for  that  number  had  not  Sec 
retary  Seward  earnestly  advised  that  the  war 
would  be  over  in  sixty  days,  the  South  did  not 
intend  to  fight,  was  rising  for  a  scare,  etc.,  etc. 
All  this  in  face  of  the  historic  fact  that  secession 
sentiment  in  many  parts  of  the  South  had  been 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

persistently  propagated  for  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  and  that  for  many  years  their 
political  leaders  had  been  waiting  for  a  pretense 
to  commence  an  open  revolt  against  the  Union. 
A  wise  statesman  would  have  noted  these  facts 
and  acted  accordingly.  But  the  really  large 
minded  patriotic  statesman,  equipped  to  deal 
with  great  national  questions,  was  not  in  evi 
dence.  In  his  place  there  were  no  end  of  cun 
ning  politicians,  some  of  them  more  or  less 
patriotic,  but  the  better  of  them  were  trained 
with  a  strong  bias  in  favor  of  self. 

Within  three  days  from  the  printing  of  the 
President's  call  for  troops,  the  enrollment  book 
of  the  coming  regiment  showed  over  two  thou 
sand  names  of  enlisted  men.  With  the  recording 
of  names  the  work  of  selecting  men  of  the  kind 
wanted,  young,  strong,  sound,  of  medium  size, 
was  carried  forward,  so  that  on  the  morning  of 
the  nineteenth  of  April,  the  number  of  men 
allowed  by  the  State  had  been  selected  and 
were  ready  to  be  mustered  into  the  service  as  a 
regiment  of  Volunteer  Infantry. 

From  this  time  on  there  was  everything  to  do 
and  nothing  to  do  it  with.  Quarters  had  to  be 
secured,  rations  supplied,  clothing,  arms  and 
equipments  obtained,  and  nearly  eight  hundred 
perfectly  raw  recruits  drilled  and  instructed  in 
the  whole  round  of  difficult  duties  which  go 


4         NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

towards  the  making  of  an  efficient  and  reliable 
soldier.  Fortunately  there  were  willing  hands 
and  plenty  of  unselfish  desire  behind  them  for 
all  the  work  there  was  to  do.  Imperceptibly, 
department  lines  were  drawn.  The  coming 
young  officers  of  the  line  keeping  with  the  men, 
teaching  marchings  and  facings,  maintaining 
order  and  enforcing  camp  regulations.  Later 
on  the  lieutenant-colonel,  an  accomplished  tac 
tician  who  had  served  in  the  National  Guard  of 
the  State,  gave  efficient  instruction  in  battalion 
drills. 

In  the  meantime  the  much  worried  and  be 
puzzled  young  individual  who  was  destined  to 
command  was  working  with  all  his  might,  try 
ing  to  make  some  headway  with  the  business 
part  of  the  enterprise,  which  included  everything 
involving  the  expenditure  of  money  from  the 
purchase  of  a  gaiter  buckle  to  the  leasing  of  an 
island  and  the  building  of  barracks.  Progress, 
however,  was  rapid  and  satisfactory,  for  May 
1 5th  found  the  regiment  comfortably  housed  in 
their  new  barracks  at  Riker's  Island,  clothed, 
equipped,  armed,  and  well  provided  with  all  the 
soldier's  necessities  allowed  by  the  regulations. 
Two  weeks  more  of  incessant  drill  and  hard 
work  in  other  directions  brought  the  regiment 
to  a  most  satisfactory  degree  of  efficiency,  so 
that  when  the  time  came  to  depart  for  the  seat 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

of  war  all  was  in  readiness  for  the  move.  The 
first  and  most  difficult  stage  had  been  success 
fully  passed,  and  already,  the  coming  veterans, 
with  the  years  of  boys,  were  feeling  the  conse 
quences  of  their  position  and  appreciating  the 
value  of  their  earnest  labor  intelligently  bestowed. 
The  next  stage  was  the  landing  at  Newport 
News  and  the  continuation,  under  the  school 
ing  of  Colonel  John  Wolcott  Phelps,  of  the  First 
Vermont  Volunteers,  of  the  character-forming 
so  successfully  commenced  in  New  York.  The 
accident  of  reporting  to  such  an  officer  as 
Colonel  Phelps  was  an  exceptional  piece  of 
good  fortune  in  the  history  of  the  regiment. 
He  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  had  served 
twenty-three  years  in  the  artillery,  and  beyond 
all  doubt  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished 
officers  ever  graduated  from  that  school.  As  a 
classical  scholar  and  a  master  of  several  mod 
ern  languages,  he  was  without  rival  in  the  regu 
lar  army;  he  was  also  well  up  in  pure  mathe 
matics  and  thoroughly  well  posted  in  all  the 
various  branches  of  his  profession.  In  addition 
to  his  great  acquirements  he  was  a  thoroughly 
honest,  unselfish,  conscientious  gentleman,  with 
common  sense,  and  a  perfect  appreciation  of 
justice,  patriotic  to  the  core,  and  of  exceptional 
capacity  for  work. 

This  brief  tribute,  possibly  a  little  out  of  place, 


6         NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

is  due  to  an  officer,  whose  teachings  and  exam 
ple  had  very  much  to  do  with  the  making  of  a 
regiment  of  efficient  soldiers,  and  is  here  set  forth 
to  make  a  degree  of  appreciation  due  to  a  noble 
man. 

From  the  landing  at  Newport  News  to  the 
end  of  August,  hard  work  was  the  order  of  the 
day;  but  before  that  time  instruction  had  become 
so  effective  and  discipline  so  habitual,  that  the 
regiment  was  ready  for  effective  work.  In  short, 
within  three  months  from  the  date  of  the  first 
muster  into  the  service,  it  had  become  a  com 
pletely  serviceable  organization  for  serious  busi 
ness  in  the  field. 

If  other  regiments  were  not  able  to  accom 
plish  a  like  result  the  fault  was  with  the  officers, 
many  of  whom  were  ignorant  of  the  duties  de 
manded,  naturally  inefficient,  and  with  no  dis 
position  for  hard  work.  With  such  material  as 
we  have  already,  good  officers  can  make  good 
regiments  in  three  months,  and  in  the  event  of 
pressing  necessity  in  half  that  time. 

The  exceptional  work — out  of  routine  sort— 
at  Newport  News,  was  the  purgation,  or  pushing 
out,  of  inefficient  officers  who  had  been  elected, 
under  State  laws  by  their  men,  to  the  company 
commission  grade.  This  labor  was  so  success 
fully  performed  that  within  six  weeks  from  the 
landing,  three  very  worthless  captains  and  twice 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

as  many  lieutenants  had  passed  on  to  other 
fields  of  usefulness.  Soon  as  their  march  to 
wards  the  North  commenced,  the  great  advan 
tage  of  their  absence  became  apparent.  More 
of  this  sort  of  work  had  to  be  done  before  the 
regiment  was  completely  freed  from  its  shoulder- 
strapped  dead  wood,  but  it  was  performed  grad 
ually,  not  so  much  again  in  any  one  short  period 
of  time.  Soon  after  the  system  of  weeding  out 
had  been  thoroughly  inaugurated,  a  plan  regu 
lating  promotions  was  set  in  operation.  It  re 
lated  to  the  line,  non-commissioned  staff  and 
orderly  sergeants.  The  senior  first  lieutenant 
succeeding  to  the  first  vacant  captaincy,  the 
senior  second  lieutenant  to  the  first  vacancy 
among  the  firsts,  and  the  ranking  orderly  ser 
geant  taking  the  place  of  the  second  lieutenant 
promoted.  This  order  of  promotion  proved  to 
be  most  efficacious  and  had  very  much  to  do 
with  the  making  of  the  regiment. 

But  the  labor  of  establishing  it  was  not  like 
living  in  a  bed  of  roses  fanned  by  gentle  zephyrs. 
Practical  politics  pointed  a  fire  in  the  rear  in  the 
way  of  granting  commissions  without  consulting 
regimental  commanders;  not  wanted  outsiders 
were  frequently  commissioned  to  the  regiment, 
and  the  inefficients  in  it  were  often,  out  of  their 
turn,  jumped  over  the  heads  of  the  more  deserv 
ing  who  were  entitled  to  their  promotion.  An 


8         NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

unlocked  for  incident,  of  a  most  disgraceful 
nature,  which  occurred  in  the  Autumn  of  1861, 
proved  to  be  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  this 
unwarranted  interference  from  the  authorities 
at  Albany. 

Early  one  evening  in  the  month  of  July, 
Colonel  Phelps  sent  for  the  colonel  of  the  Ninth 
to  come  to  his  tent  at  once,  as  he  wanted  to  see 
him  in  relation  to  an  important  emergency. 
When  there  he  was  told  there  was  danger  of  an 
emeute  among  the  men  of  the  First  New  York 
Volunteers.  A  certain  captain  named  Barnard 
had  returned  from  Old  Point  in  a  state  of  in 
toxication,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  in  camp, 
without  provocation,  had  wantonly  shot  and 
seriously  wounded  one  of  the  favorite  non-com 
missioned  officers,  and  the  Colonel  of  the  Ninth 
was  ordered  to  hold  his  regiment  in  readiness 
to  put  down  any  uprising  that  might  occur. 
Although  among  the  men  and  non-commis 
sioned  officers,  threats  were  freely  and  openly 
made,  better  counsels  prevailed  and  there  was 
no  disturbance.  For  some  reason  the  criminal 
was  not  tried,  his  victim  recovered,  and  his 
would-be  murderer  disappeared. 

The  incident  was  a  day's  talk,  then  forgotten 
and  nothing  more  was  heard  of  the  chief  actor, 
until  upon  a  certain  day  in  the  October  follow 
ing,  he  appeared  at  Hatteras  Inlet  commissioned 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

as  a  Captain  in  the  Ninth  Regiment.  His 
advent  proved  to  be  a  great  regimental  surprise 
that  called  for  prompt  and  decisive  action,  which 
was  promptly  taken.  Neither  the  would-be 
Captain  or  his  commission  were  acknowledged, 
and  he  was  ordered  to  return  immediately  to 
Old  Point  Comfort,  and  the  following  letter 
was  sent  to  General  Wool  :— 

FORT  CLARK,  HATTERAS  INLET,  N.  C.,  October  8,  1861. 
GENERAL  JOHN  E.  WOOL,  Commanding  Dept.  of  Va., 

Fortress  Monroe,  Va. 

SIR  : — I  do  not  acknowledge  the  right  of  Governor  Morgan  to  appoint 
and  transfer  officers,  over  my  head,  into  my  regiment,  and  I  will  resist 
the  appointment  and  transfer  of  Captain  Barnard,  even  though  it  cost 
me  my  commission. 

If  Captain  B.  should  in  the  end  succeed  in  obtaining  a  command  in 
my  regiment,  I  shall  then,  if  not  dismissed  before,  resign  my  com 
mission,  with  very  great  respect, 

I  remain  your  faithful  servant, 

RUSH  C.  HAWKINS, 

Col.  Comg.  Ninth  Regt.  N.  Y.  Vols. 

The  gauntlet  was  thrown,  the  contest  on,  and 
sink  or  swim,  was  to  be  fought  to  the  finish, 
apparently  against  enormous  odds,  by  an  ob 
scure  young  volunteer  colonel,  single-handed, 
who  had  neither  influence  or  hope  of  favor,  but 
he  was  sure  of  being  right  at  least  morally,  and 
had  no  fear.  With  the  enforced  leaving  of 
Barnard,  regimental  peace  was  restored  and  the 
daily  routine  went  forward  about  as  usual.  But 
peace  which  blesses  was  not  to  endure,  for 
again,  October  22nd,  it  was  disturbed  by  the 


10      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

appearance  of  the  same  evil  spirit.  This  time 
it  was  accompanied  by  a  special  order  from 
General  Williams,  commanding  at  Hatteras  In 
let,  assigning  him  to  the  command  of  a  company 
in  the  Ninth  Regiment.  This  time  the  regi 
mental  blood  was  superheated,  and  the  order 
promptly  disobeyed  in  the  most  emphatic  man 
ner.  A  prompt  arrest  of  the  hot-headed 
Colonel  followed,  charges  preferred,  and  nine 
days  later  he  was  ordered  to  proceed  to  Fortress 
Monroe  for  trial  by  court  martial. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  at  department  head 
quarters,  he  sought  and  obtained  an  interview 
with  one  of  the  aides  of  General  Wool,  who 
after  reading  charges  and  hearing  a  full  circum 
stantial  account  of  the  whole  affair,  from  the 
shooting  at  Newport  News  to  the  arrest,  frankly 
stated  that  the  victim  of  orders  was  clearly  in 
the  right,  and  that  he  would  see  what  could  be 
done  with  the  General.  The  quoting  of  an 
official  letter  is  the  better  way  of  stating  the 
measure  of  his  success  :— 

HEADQUARTERS   DEPARTMENT  OF   VIRGINIA. 

FORT  MONROE,  VA.,  November  5,  1861. 

COLONEL: — The  Major  General  commanding  the  Department  directs 
me  to  inform  you,  that  the  charges  preferred  against  you  by  Brig. 
General  Thomas  Williams  are  dismissed,  and  you  are  hereby  released 
from  arrest.  \  am  sir,  most  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  D.  WHIPPLE,  Asst.  Adjt.  Genl. 
COL.  RUSH  C.  HAWKINS,  Ninth  Regt.  N.  Y.  Vols., 

Fortress  Monroe,  Va. 


INTRODUCTION.  1  1 

Following  the  release  there  was  a  long  inter 
view  with  General  Wool,  who  being  an  officer 
of  long  experience  and  provided  with  common 
sense,  and  knowing  how  to  deal  with  those,  who 
in  defense  of  right  sometimes  take  the  short 
cut  to  justice,  disregarding  regulations  and 
orders,  said  in  effect,  that  a  colonel  was  respon 
sible  for  the  good  name  and  efficiency  of  his 
command,  and  it  ought  to  be  a  part  of  his 
official  duty  to  keep  disreputable  men  from 
obtaining  commissions  in  his  regiment.  There 
was  no  doubt  about  which  side  the  moral  sup 
ported,  but  orders  had  been  disobeyed,  the 
matter  to  be  settled  was  an  important  one  and 
he  would  order  the  offending  officer  to  Wash 
ington,  to  present  his  side  of  the  case  to  the 
President  for  his  decision,  and  also  to  obtain 
from  the  Administration  instructions  in  relation 
to  present  occupation  of  North  Carolina  coast, 
and  future  operations  in  its  inland  waters. 

The  stay  in  Washington  lasted  eight  days ; 
the  matters  for  consideration  involved  two 
Cabinet  meetings  and  several  interviews  with 
President  Lincoln.  The  permanent  occupation 
was  decided  upon  and  future  operations  out 
lined,  but  the  President  would  not  pass  upon 
Gov.  Morgan's  power  to  make  appointments  of 
commissioned  officers  to  regiments  in  the  field 
without  consent  of  colonels  commanding.  In 


1 2      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NE  W  YORK  VOL  UNTEERS. 

this  particular  instance  he  thought  the  Colonel 
was  right,  but  he  could  not  afford  to  get  up  a 
quarrel  with  the  Governor  upon  whom  he  most 
relied  to  assist  in  putting  down  the  Rebellion, 
"Tell  General  Wool  I  leave  this  matter  in  his 
hands  for  him  to  arrange  with  the  Governor,  so 
there  will  be  no  more  trouble."  It  was  never 
known  what  General  Wool  did,  but  there  were 
never  any  more  appointments  without  the  con 
sent  of  the  colonel  of  the  regiment.  In  the 
meantime,  Barnard  had  been  placed  in  com 
mand  of  a  company,  but  the  men  of  the  whole 
regiment  made  his  position  so  unpleasant  that 
he  feared  bodily  harm,  resigned,  and  was  never 
heard  of  afterwards.  It  was  ascertained  that 
this  individual  was  of  Baltimore,  where  he  had 
kept  a  very  low  groggery — a  resort  for  crim 
inals — and  that  generally,  he  had  a  most  un 
savory  reputation,  coupled  with  a  strong 
suspicion  that  he  had  been  engaged  in  criminal 
practices. 

This  unpleasant  incident  has  been  set  forth 
in  extenso  for  the  sole  purpose  of  showing  what 
an  earnest  officer,  intent  upon  doing  his  whole 
duty  to  the  Government,  had  often  to  contend 
with.  During  the  whole  contest  the  demoral 
izing  political  fire  from  the  rear  was  quite  as 
efficient  as  the  other  from  the  front  in  retarding 
progress  towards  the  better  military  organiza- 


INTRODUCTION.  13 


tion.  No  doubt  the  majority  of  the  Governors 
were  patriotic  and  desired  to  do  their  best,  but 
they  were  politicians  who  could  not  stand  up 
against  the  pressure  from  without.  Their  work 
ing  constituents  had  to  be  rewarded,  and  in  the 
far  too  numerous  regiments  from  all  the  States  a 
commissioned  officer's  place  could  always  be 
made  for  a  devoted  henchman.  These  were 
two  of  the  prominent  reasons,  among  the  many, 
why  it  took  years  to  make  an  army  out  of  the 
best  possible  material,  instead  of  months. 

During  the  administration  of  the  War  De 
partment,  by  that  notoriously  corrupt  politician, 
Simon  Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania,  one  of  the 
faithful  from  a  rural  part  of  that  State  appeared 
in  Washington  pressing  his  claim  for  a  foreign 
mission.  There  being  no  vacancy  among  them 
a  fat  consular  appointment  was  asked  for,  these 
also  were  all  filled,  and  the  worker  being 
disappointed  and  disconsolate  appealed  to 
Cameron  for  relief.  That  official  sympathized 
with  him,  said  he  appreciated  the  valuable 
services  performed  in  the  mountain  district,  and 
as  reward  offered  the  best  he  had  to  bestow,  and 
promptly  tendered  a  brigadier  general's  com 
mission,  which  was  declined  by  the  homework- 
ing  patriot  because  he  preferred  peace  to  war, 
but  he  had  heard  that  the  position  of  purchasing 
and  contracting  quartermaster  at  Harrisburg, 


14      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Philadelphia,  and  other  places  in  Pennsylvania 
was  pleasant  and  profitable  and  he  would 
prefer  one  of  those. 

From  the  inception  of  the  regimental  idea,  it 
had  been  determined  to  form  it  upon  purely  up 
to  date  military  basis,  and  in  order  to  accom 
plish  the  better  results  in  that  direction,  absolute 
control  by  a  single  head  was  the  one  dominant 
essential,  and  it  was  the  spirit  behind  and  sup 
porting  that  determination  which  caused  the 
firm  resistance  against  giving  a  place  in  the  line 
to  a  thoroughly  disreputable  and  unfit  character, 
which  if  permitted  would  have  been  a  stain 
upon  the  reputation  of  the  whole  organization. 

There  were  also  other  important  ideals  to  be 
developed:  manliness,  cleanliness,  honesty, 
sobriety  and  clean-cut  individuality.  All  of 
these  qualities  are  essential  to  the  make-up  of  a 
perfect  soldier,  no  matter  what  uniform  he  may 
wear.  Along  these  lines  in  many  respects,  long 
before  the  term  of  service  had  expired,  success 
was  so  marked  that  there  were  at  least  fifty  men 
in  the  ranks  who  could  have  commanded  the 
regiment  as  efficiently  as  any  officer  in  it.  But 
over  and  above  all  these  separate  qualities 
there  was  developed  an  all  prevailing  and  over 
ruling  esprit  de  corps,  which  both  as  to  conduct 
and  soldierly  appearance  kept  the  whole  up  to 
a  very  high  level.  The  regimental  spirit  was 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

such  that  its  members  were  always  ready  for 
any  emergency,  fun,  frolic,  gymnastics,  theatri 
cals  or  serious  work  in  the  field ;  with  them 
disaster  never  brought  despondency.  Grief  for 
those  who  had  fallen  was  the  ever  present 
incentive  for  better  work  in  the  future;  but 
there  was  never  discouragement  or  want  of 
confidence  in  capacity  to  perform  whatever  duty 
might  be  commanded.  A  Union  general  who 
witnessed  the  demeanor  of  the  survivors  a  day 
after  the  terrible  struggle  and  loss  at  Antietam, 
suggested  that  after  the  words  uToujours  Pret" 
(the  regimental  motto),  the  words  "  Nil  Des- 
parandum  "  might  appropriately  be  added. 

The  last  day  of  the  march  from  Antietam  to 
Falmouth  was  a  very  muddy  one,  and  by  the 
time  the  army  reached  the  grounds  appointed 
for  going  into  camp  it  presented  an  appearance 
plainly  showing  its  intimate  contact  with  the 
fields  of  Virginia  mud.  But  notwithstanding 
unfavorable  conditions  for  show  purposes, 
General  Sumner  then  commanding  the  right 
Grand  Division,  ordered  an  afternoon  full 
dress  parade  of  his  whole  command.  The 
Ninth  growled  but  went  to  work  with  a  will, 
brushing,  eradicating  mud  spots,  chalking  those 
on  the  white  duck  gaiters,  blacking  shoes, 
burnishing  arms,  etc.,  etc.  The  parade  was 
over  and  the  three  corps  of  which  it  was  com- 


16      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

posed  dismissed,  excepting  the  Ninth  New  York, 
which  was  ordered  to  remain  ;  no  one  concerned 
knew  what  was  coming,  but  there  was  some 
trembling  in  boots,  and  particularly  about  the 
time  that  General  Sumner  with  full  staff  rode 
to  opposite  the  center  of  the  regimental  line, 
saluted  the  commanding  officer  and  asked 
"  Whose  regiment  is  this?"  Upon  receiving  the 
answer  he  took  off  his  hat  and  in  a  loud  tone 
of  voice  said:  "This  is  the  first  regiment  of 
soldiers  I  have  seen  in  many  years,"  and  then 
after  complimenting  in  most  flattering  terms 
the  officers,  who  at  his  request  had  gathered 
around  him,  left  the  field.  This  was  the  honest 
outspoken  expression  of  a  brave  old  soldier 
who  had  adorned  our  army  for  more  than  a 
third  of  a  century  of  notable  service. 

It  is  needless  in  this  connection  to  write  it, 
but  it  may  as  well  be  stated,  that  this  uncon 
ditional  compliment  was  an  enormous  feather, 
not  white,  in  the  caps  of  the  "Boys";  it  put 
them  upon  their  best  behavior,  and  its  influence 
lasted  to  the  end  of  the  term. 

In  the  month  of  May,  1863,  while  an  army,  of 
which  the  Ninth  New  York  was  a  part,  was  de 
fending  the  Union  lines  at  Suffolk,  Virginia, 
during  the  siege  of  the  rebel  forces  under  Long- 
street,  the  Ninety-ninth  New  York  Volunteers 
crossed  the  Nansemond  River  and,  unsupported, 


INTRODUCTION.  1  7 

made  an  attack  upon  the  intrenched  left  of  the 
rebel  line.  The  regiment  was  defeated  and 
driven  back  with  considerable  loss,  and  com 
pelled  to  recross  the  river,  leaving  their  killed 
and  wounded  on  the  field.  Seeing  this,  the  men 
of  the  Ninth,  who  had  watched  the  whole  move 
ment,  involuntarily,  and  without  orders,  com 
menced  to  move  in  the  direction  of  the  scene 
of  battle  for  the  purpose  of  rescuing  those  who 
were  left  behind.  This  hazardous  service,  within 
less  than  point  blank  range  of  the  enemy's  small 
arms,  was  so  well  performed  that  it  elicited  from 
the  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the  Ninety-ninth  the 
following  acknowledgment: 


HEADQUARTERS,  ggth  N.  Y.  V.,  Suffolk,  Va.,  May  2,  1863. 
COLONEL  RUSH  C.  HAWKINS,  Commanding  gth.  Regt,  N.  Y.  V. 

Sir  :  —  Allow  me  to  tender  to  you  my  most  heartfelt  gratitude  for  the 
kind  and  gallant  promptitude  with  which  some  noble  fellows  of  your 
command  volunteered  to  assist  in  removing  the  dead  and  wounded  of 
the  99th  N.  Y.  V.  from  the  field,  under  sharp  fire,  yesterday  afternoon. 
Six  dead  and  forty-three  wounded  were  brought  in,  not  leaving  a 
single  man  on  the  field. 

I  am,  Sir,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

R.  NIXON,   Lieut.  Col.  Comg.  99th  N.  Y.  V. 

This  communication  tells  its  own  story,  and, 
save  only  in  one  respect,  calls  for  neither  ex 
planation  or  comment.  The  writer,  who  saw 
the  whole  of  the  unfortunate  affair  from  start 
to  finish,  clearly  remembers  that  the  most  of  the 
rescuing  was  accomplished  by  the  fearless  volun- 


18      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

teers  for  the  perilous  work,  of  the  truly  "Noble 
Ninth." 

This  incident,  more  completely  than  any  other 
could,  illustrates  the  dominant  idea  which  gov 
erned  in  the  formation  and  education  of  the 
regiment.  From  the  first  it  was  intended  to  ele 
vate  the  man,  not  at  the  expense  of  the  soldier, 
but  so  rightly  to  educate  him  that  he  would 
make  the  better  soldier. 

There  were  thousands  of  men  "  standing 
around"  from  other  regiments  who  witnessed 
the  disaster  to  their  companions  in  arms,  but 
only  the  men  of  the  Ninth  moved  forward  to 
the  rescue  of  the  fallen.  The  others  were  indif 
ferent  to  their  sufferings,  or  too  anxious  for  the 
preservation  of  self.  These  were  machine  sol 
diers,  who  might  have  gone  to  the  rescue  if  they 
had  been  ordered.  The  men  who  did  go  went 
because  they  could  not  help  themselves.  This 
movement  was  involuntary ;  they  had  to  do 
what  they  did,  because  it  was  the  right  thing 
to  do  and  needed  doing.  Thus  they  proved  a 
high  development  in  the  right  direction  of  the 
individual ;  while  those  of  the  other  regiments, 
who  only  looked  on,  showed  they  were  of  the 
machine  sort,  and  could  not,  or  would  not, 
move  without  orders.  The  stronger  and  more 
elevated  the  individuality  of  the  individual,  the 
more  he  respects  himself  and  the  stronger  his 


IN  TROD  UCTION.  1 9 

self-reliance ;  and  that  is  the  most  notable  qual 
ity  in  the  make-up  of  the  American  soldier. 
He  can,  and  will,  whenever  necessary,  move 
to  the  front,  and  stay  there  without  orders  from 
his  officers.  The  onrush  of  the  American  sol 
dier  of  his  own  volition,  without  orders,  was 
never  better  illustrated  than  at  Missionary 
Ridge,  when  our  monumental  individualities 
from  the  West  started  out  one  fine  morning 
for  a  reconnaissance  in  force,  which  ended  in 
their  driving  Bragg  and  his  army  out  of  their 
well  chosen  and  strongly  entrenched  position. 
The  significant  present  they  then  made  to  the 
army  commander  was  without  precedent  in  our 
history. 

This  introduction  has  been  written  for  a  dou 
ble  purpose :  to  set  forth,  at  least  inferentially, 
that  the  machine-martinet  way  is  not  the  better 
for  making,  in  the  shortest  time,  a  good  fighting 
organization  out  of  our  average  American  ma 
terial  ;  but  the  education  upwards  of  the  moral 
and  intellectual  that  is  in  him  is  the  only  way 
to  do  it  effectually,  in  order  to  get  the  best  out 
of  the  man  that  he  has  to  give.  A  high  order 
of  intelligence  is  quick  to  perceive  the  potential 
necessity  for  discipline  and  value  of  tactical 
knowledge,  and  soon  acquires  both  without 
being  forced.  Of  course  there  are  exceptions 
to  American  regiment  rules  as  well  as  to  all 


20      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

others.  There  are  plenty  of  men  in  the  world 
who  need  driving,  but  the  average  American 
regiment,  composed  of  natives,  would  be  re 
garded  as  especially  unfortunate  if  it  should 
have  fifteen  per  cent,  of  that  sort  within  its 
ranks. 

PERSONAL. 

In  all  probability,  this  is  the  last  time  I  shall 
be  called  upon  to  write  about  the  regiment  that 
bore  my  name  and  that  I  had  the  honor  to 
command.  Our  intimate  companionship  com 
menced  thirty-nine  years  ago  to-day,  and  with 
those  who  survive  has  continued  to  this  time. 

The  stirring  memories  connected  with  my 
association  with  the  brave  and  true  men  of  that 
body  have  ever  been  my  most  priceless  posses 
sion,  and  I  can  never  forget  how  much  I  owe 
to  them,  nor  shall  I  ever  fail,  while  life  lasts,  to 
appreciate  their  friendship  and  loyalty. 

The  tour  of  duty  on  this  earth  is  coming  to 
its  close,  the  journey  is  nearing  its  end;  the 
parting  at  the  ways  is  in  sight,  and  the  only 
word  to  be  fittingly  said  is  now  forcing  its  way 
from  throbbing  heart  to  trembling  lip  ;  the  pro 
nouncing  of  it  I  leave  to  others. 

RUSH  C.  HAWKINS. 
APRIL  19,  1900. 


CHAPTER  I. 

DERIVATION  OF  NAME  ZOUAVES —  ORGANIZATION 
OF  THE  NEW  YORK  ZOUAVES  IN  i860,  WITH 
COPY  OF  ORIGINAL  PAMPHLET  CONTAINING 
BY-LAWS,  COMMITTEES,  ETC. 

THE  history  of  the  Ninth  New  York  Volun 
teers  would  be  incomplete  without  a  brief 
account  of  the  "  Old  Company,"  with  the  address 
and  by-laws  promulgated  for  its  government. 
These  clearly  and  vigorously  embody  the  rule 
of  action,  strictly  enforced,  which  gave  birth  to 
the  fine  soldierly  spirit,  which  in  one  winter 
brought  to  the  organization  a  degree  of  soldierly 
perfection,  in  drill  and  demeanor,  seldom  found 
in  even  the  oldest  military  bodies.  The  or 
ganization  was,  to  the  core,  democratic,  and  yet 
an  unbending  despotism,  the  despot  being  the 
laws  and  regulations,  which  were  impartially 
and  justly  construed. 

For  the  enforcement  of  orders  there  was  no 
military  code  to  fall  back  upon.  The  authority 
for  all  action  rested  solely  upon  the  voluntary 
consent  and  loyal  approval  of  the  governed. 
But  the  whole  structural  part  of  the  organization 


22      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

rested  upon,  and  was  sustained  by  an  all  pre 
vailing  esprit  de  corps,  born  of  an  earnest  desire 
for  excelling  in  all  the  qualities  which  go  to 
make  up  the  perfect  soldier. 

When  the  Rebellion  came  it  found  this  asso 
ciation  of  earnest  boys  (for  they  were  all  young) 
ready,  patriotic  and  filled  with  an  earnest  desire 
to  be  of  service  to  their  country,  and  they 
carried  with  them,  into  the  ranks  of  the  regi 
ment  which  they  made,  the  spirit  of  the  parent 
company ;  and  the  child,  upon  all  occasions  when 
called  upon,  proved  itself  a  worthy  offspring. 

The  name  "  Zouaves  "  was  first  taken  from  a 
tribe  of  Kabyles  in  Algeria,  whose  fighting 
qualities  were  for  generations  noted  throughout 
North  Africa.  After  the  French  occupied  Al 
giers,  in  1830,  a  body  of  these  troops  was  incor 
porated  into  the  French  Army,  with  French 
officers,  discipline  and  arms.  In  1837  the  corps 
was  divided  into  three  battalions,  and  became 
noted  in  the  many  conflicts  preceding  the  final 
conquest  of  Algeria.  Long  before  this  the  native 
element  had  been  eliminated,  and  after  1840, 
the  Zouaves  were  simply  European  troops  uni 
formed  as  Arabs. 

Because  of  their  peculiarity  of  dress  and  the 
fame  as  fighters  of  these  Frenchmen,  Messrs. 
Hawkins,  Barnett,  Parisen,  Hammill,  Li  Baire, 
Graham,  Childs,  and  others  of  New  York  City, 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  ORGANIZERS.  23 

conceived  early  in  1860,  the  idea  of  organizing 
a  company  which  was  to  be  the  foundation  of  a 
future  regiment,  to  be  known  as  "  The  New  York 
Zouaves."  The  idea  met  with  instant  approval. 
Committees  were  appointed,  by-laws  drafted, 
and  on  the  23d  of  July,  1860,  the  corps  was 
organized. 

An  address,  presented  by  Mr.  Rush  C. 
Hawkins,  was  adopted  and  printed,  which  is 
herewith  reproduced,  and  which  shows  in  what 
an  original,  energetic  and  business-like  manner 
the  corps  was  formed. 

ADDRESS. 

In  forming  an  independent  military  organiza 
tion  there  are  a  great  number  of  things  of 
special  importance  to  be  taken  into  considera 
tion  in  order  to  effect  anything  approaching 
perfection.  There  must  of  necessity  be  many 
absolute  and  positive  rules,  which  must  be  car 
ried  out  to  the  letter. 

In  the  first  place,  equality  of  social  feeling 
should  be  inculcated  to  the  most  unlimited 
extent.  All  should  be  considered  alike  and 
treated  alike ;  nothing  like  favoritism  should 
be  allowed  to  creep  in ;  efficiency  and  good 
character  should  be  the  only  recommendation 
to  preferment,  and  no  one,  by  reason  of  a 
superior  social  position,  should  be  allowed  to 


24      NIN'IH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

usurp  the  place  which  merit  should  occupy.  A 
feeling  of  brotherhood  and  kindliness  should  be 
cultivated.  This  is  necessary  in  order  to  assure 
harmony.  All  measures  should  be  adopted 
with  as  much  unanimity  as  possible,  so  that 
there  may  be  no  feeling  of  dissention.  When 
any  measure  has  been  adopted  every  man 
should  carry  it  out  to  the  very  letter.  An  inter 
est  and  pride  in  excelling  should  ever  be  upper 
most  in  the  minds  of  all.  Nothing  like  careless 
ness  in  demeanor,  while  on  duty,  should  ever 
betray  itself.  The  moment  a  man  becomes 
careless  he  ceases  to  be  of  use  to  himself  or  to 
others.  The  idea  has  been  circulated  that  this 
organization  has  been  formed  in  imitation  of 
our  Chicago  brethren.  Such  is  not  the  case. 
We  shall  not  imitate ;  we  intend  to  create  for 
ourselves  and  manage  our  affairs  after  our  own 
style  of  thinking. 

One  most  essential  point  of  difference  will  be 
that  we  do  not  intend  to  make  laws  to  govern 
the  conduct  of  members  while  off  duty.  We  do 
not  believe  that  it  is  requisite  to  place  a  cordon 
of  laws  around  men,  in  order  to  compel  them 
to  become  decent  and  respectable  citizens ;  but 
we  shall  endeavor  by  example  to  raise  the 
standard  of  character  so  high  that  each  one  will 
feel  that  if  he  conducts  himself  otherwise  than 
as  a  gentleman,  he  will  be  disgraced  in  his  own 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  ORGANIZERS.  23 

good  opinion,  and  in  the  opinion  of  his  com 
rades.  We  do  not  believe  that  any  part  of 
mankind  was  ever  changed  from  blackguards 
to  gentlemen  by  the  force  of  strict  laws.  One 
who  will  not,  of  his  own  accord,  conduct  himself 
properly,  cannot  be  improved  by  the  force  of 
legislation.  We,  therefore,  believe  it  just  that 
no  attempt  should  be  made  to  exercise  any 
control  over  the  members  of  this  corps  while 
off  duty. 

Still  we  would  add  that  good  conduct  and 
character,  together  with  obedience  to  the  in 
stincts  of  truth  and  the  dictates  of  honor,  will 
detract  nothing  from  the  man,  nor  make  the 
soldier  less  efficient. 

We  would  assert,  as  a  rule,  that  those  who 
would  excel  as  soldiers  must  be  patient  and 
industrious,  quick  and  willing  to  obey  orders; 
they  must  pay  strict  attention  to  duty,  and  be 
cleanly  in  person  and  dress. 

These  qualities,  coupled  with  a  desire  to  learn 
and  be  instructed,  will,  in  time,  make  soldiers 
fit  to  command  and  to  be  commanded. 

We  should  also  like  to  have  each  man  made 
to  feel  that  a  uniform  of  glaring  colors  neither 
makes  a  man  nor  a  soldier;  but  that  the  con 
duct,  efficiency  and  bearing  of  the  wearer  must 
decide  whether  he  is  a  soldier,  who  knows  what 
he  professes,  or  a  fool,  wearing  uniform,  not 


26      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

knowing  why,  except  that  it  panders  to  his 
vanity,  which  is  satisfied  in  exciting  the  ridicule 
of  the  sensible,  the  wonder  of  small  boys,  and 
the  admiration  of  fools. 

PREAMBLE. 

The  members  of  this  corps,  having  associated 
together  for  the  purpose  of  perfecting  themselves 
in  military  science,  and  for  the  further  purpose 
of  forming  a  military  organization  similar  to  the 
French  Zouaves,  do  agree  to  abide  by  the  fol 
lowing  by-laws,  which  shall  constitute  their 
rules  of  action. 

BY-LAWS. 

ARTICLE  I. 

NAME. 
The  name  of  the  Corps  shall  be  "  THE  NEW  YORK  ZOUAVES." 

ARTICLE  II. 

UNIFORMS,  EQUIPMENTS,  ETC. 

The  construction  of  the  uniforms,  equipments,  and  arms  shall  be 
similar  to  that  of  the  French  Zouaves. 

ARTICLE  III. 
APPLICATION  FOR  MEMBERSHIP,  ETC. 

Any  male  citizen  or  denizen  of  the  United  States,  between  the  ages 
of  eighteen  and  thirty-five  years,  possessing  a  good  moral  character  and 
good  health,  who  shall  be  proposed  by  any  member,  or  shall  send  in  an 
application  in  writing,  giving  two  or  more  references  as  to  character 
and  health,  shall  be  ballotted  for  at  the  next  regular  monthly  meeting 
after  the  proposition  or  application  has  been  received;  and  if  all  the 
ballots,  except  five,  are  in  the  affirmative,  he  shall  sign  the  roll  and 
become  a  member  of  the  corps. 


B  Y-LA  WS  OF  NE  W  } 'ORK  ZOUA  VES.  27 

ARTICLE  IV. 

DRILLS. 

Each  squad  shall  drill  twice  a  week;  each  company  twice  a  week; 
and  the  whole  corps  as  a  battalion  once  in  each  month,  except  during 
the  months  of  July  and  August.  And  after  the  corps  is  organized  into 
a  regiment  or  battalion  there  shall  be  four  field  days  in  each  year,  when 
the  whole  corps  shall  parade  for  field  duty. 

ARTICLE  V. 
COMPANY  OFFICERS,  ETC. 

Each  company  shall  consist  of  one  captain,  three  lieutenants,  five 
sergeants,  four  corporals,  four  drummers,  and  eighty-four  privates. 

ARTICLE  VI. 
FIELD  AND  STAFF  OFFICERS. 

The  field  officers  shall  consist  of  one  colonel,  one  lieutenant-colonel, 
and  one  major.  The  staff  shall  consist  of  one  adjutant,  one  quarter 
master,  and  a  paymaster.  A  chaplain  and  a  surgeon  may  also  be 
attached  to  the  staff  of  field  officers,  who  shall  be  elected  by  a  two- 
third  vote  of  all  the  commissioned  officers  of  the  staff  and  line. 

ARTICLE  VII. 
THE  NON-COMMISSIONED  STAFF. 

The  non-commissioned  staff  shall  consist  of  a  sergeant-major,  a 
quartermaster's  sergeant,  a  drum-major,  a  color  sergeant,  and  two 
general  guides,  all  of  whom  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Committee  on 
Instruction  and  Lectures,  from  the  rank  and  file,  with  the  advice  of 
the  colonel. 

ARTICLE  VIH. 

MUSTERING  OF  MEMBERS  INTO  COMPANY. 

No  member  shall  be  mustered  into  a  company  until  he  has  been  in 
spected  by  at  least  three  of  the  Committee  on  Instruction  and  Lectures, 
and  by  them  pronounced  capable  of  performing  all  the  marchings, 
facings,  manual  of  arms,  and  evolutions  of  the  line. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

FORMATION  OF  COMPANY  AND  ELECTION  OF  OFFICERS. 
As  soon  as  one  hundred  and  one  members  shall  have  been  enrolled 
arid  found  competent  to  be  formed  into  a  company,  they  shall  then  at  a 
regular  monthly  meeting  proceed  to  elect  the  commissioned  and  non 
commissioned  officers  of  the  company,  each  of  whom  shall  be  elected 
by  a  plurality  vote,  and  in  like  manner  shall  each  successive  one 
hundred  and  one  proceed,  until  ten  companies  are  formed. 


28      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

When  three  hundred  and  three  shall  have  been  enrolled  and  formed 
into  companies,  there  shall  then  be  an  election  of  a  colonel  and  staff 
officers,  who  shall  be  elected  by  a  plurality  vote  of  the  whole  corps. 

ARTICLE  X. 
FORMATION  OF  BATTALION. 

The  formation  of  the  battalion  or  regiment  in  order  of  battle  or  line 
shall  be  the  same  as  that  contained  in  Article  First  of  Title  First  of 
"Hardie's  Rifle  and  Light  Infantry  Tactics."  Each  company  shall  be 
mustered  into  battalion  as  soon  as  formed. 

ARTICLE  XL 
DRILL. — TACTICS  ADOPTED. 

The  drill  shall  be  that  of  the  United  States  Light  Infantry,  following 
as  near  as  possible  the  exercises  and  discipline  of  Hardie,  and  the 
bayonet  exercise  of  McClellan,  except  when  these  authors  come  in 
conflict  with  the  drill  of  the  French  Zouaves.  Then  the  latter  shall 
prevail. 

ARTICLE  XII. 

FINES  FOR  ABSENCE  FROM  DRILLS  AND  PARADES. 

The  fine  for  being  absent  from  drill,  unless  the  absentee  is  excused, 
shall  be  fifty  cents,  and  from  battalion  or  company  parade,  three 
dollars.  Being  absent  from  three  successive  drills  without  being  ex 
cused,  shall  be  considered  sufficient  cause  for  expulsion,  unless  the 
absentee  shall  have  first  obtained  leave  of  absence  from  the  president. 

ARTICLE  XIII. 

FINES  FOR  DEFICIENCY  IN  UNIFORMS,  ETC. 

On  full  dress  company  or  battalion  parades,  no  person  shall  be  per 
mitted  in  the  ranks  who  is  not  properly  armed,  equipped  and  in  full 
uniform  under  a  penalty  of  fifty  cents. 

ARTICLE  XIV. 
CONDUCT  OF  MEMBERS  IN  GENERAL. 

While  on  duty,  either  at  drill  or  parade,  each  member  shall  conduct 
himself  according  to  the  rules  of  manly  and  soldierly  propriety,  always 
paying  strict  attention  to  duty  and  obeying  orders  to  the  best  of  his 
ability. 

No  member  shall,  when  on  or  off  duty,  with  any  part  of  his  uniform 
on,  visit  any  public  place,  such  as  bar-rooms,  hotels,  theatres,  libraries, 
etc.,  without  first  obtaining  the  permission  of  his  commanding  officer, 
under  the  penalty  of  five  dollars  for  the  first  offence,  the  second  offence 
will  be  a  sufficient  cause  for  expulsion. 


B  Y-LA  WS  OF  NE  W  YORK  ZOUA  VES.  29 

On  all  parades  or  out-door  drills,  the  corps  being  dismissed  for  a  short 
time,  no  member  shall  go  beyond  eighty  paces  from  where  the  arms 
were  stacked  without  permission  of  his  commandant,  under  the  penalty 
of  five  dollars  fine  for  the  first  offence,  and  upon  repetition  of  the 
offence  the  member  shall  be  expelled  from  the  corps. 

ARTICLE  XV. 
FUNERAL  PARADES. 

In  case  of  the  death  of  any  member  the  whole  corps  shall  attend  his 
funeral,  wearing  the  usual  military  badge  of  mourning,  in  full  uniform 
or  otherwise,  according  to  the  desire  of  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

ARTICLE  XVI. 
CIVIC  DEPARTMENT. 

OFFICERS. 

The  Civic  Department  shall  consist  of  a  president,  vice-president, 
secretary,  and  treasurer,  each  of  whom  shall  be  elected  on  the  first 
Monday  of  each  January  for  the  ensuing  year  by  a  majority  vote. 

MEETINGS. 

The  regular  monthly  meetings  shall  be  held  on  the  first  Monday  of 
each  mouth.  Special  meetings  shall  be  called  by  the  president,  or,  in 
his  absence,  the  vice-president,  upon  a  written  application  made  to  him 
by  five  members,  In  case  of  a  call  of  a  special  meeting  printed  or 
written  notices  shall  be  sent  to  each  member  of  the  corps. 

At  all  meetings  fifteen  members  shall  constitute  a  quorum. 

ORDER  OF  BUSINESS. 

On  taking  the  chair,  the  president  shall  call  the  meeting  to  order 
when  the  business  shall  proceed  in  the  following  order: 

1.  Calling  the  roll. 

2.  Reading  the  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  for  adoption. 

3.  Collection  of  dues  and  fines. 

4.  Reports  of  standing  committees. 

5.  Reports  of  special  committees. 

6.  Propositions  and  reading  applications  for  new  committees. 

7.  Electing  new  members. 

8.  Unfinished  business. 

9.  New  business. 

10.     Motion  to  adjourn. 

RULES  OF  DEBATE. 

The  rules  of  debate  shall,  as  near  as  practicable,  confirm  to  those 
adopted  by  the  United  States  Rouse  of  Representatives. 


3O      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

ARTICLE  XVII. 
STANDING  COMMITTEES  AND  THEIR  DUTIES. 

There  shall  be  appointed  by  the  president  and  elected  by  the  corps, 
on  the  first  Monday  of  each  January,  who  shall  serve  for  one  year  from 
the  day  of  their  appointment  and  election,  the  following  committees,  viz. : 

FINANCE  COMMITTEE. 

A  committee  of  three  on  finance,  to  be  appointed  by  the  president, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  audit  all  accounts,  and  pass  them  over  to  the 
treasurer  for  payment.  They  shall  see  that  the  expenditure  does  not 
exceed  the  income,  and  report  at  each  monthly  meeting. 

COURT-MARTIAL  COMMITTEE. 

A  Court-Martial  Committee  of  seven  shall  be  elected,  collectively, 
by  a  majority  vote,  whose  duty  shall  be  to  hear  the  excuses  of  delin 
quents,  with  full  power  to  remit  fines  and  order  expulsions. 

This  committee  shall  report  the  fines  to  the  treasurer  and  the  expelled 
members  to  the  president  while  in  the  chair,  who  shall  order  the  secre 
tary  to  erase  the  names  of  the  expelled  members  from  the  roll. 

ARTICLE  XVIII. 
DUTIES  OF  THE  SECRETARY  AND  TREASURER. 

The  secretary  shall  be  present  at  each  meeting,  take  down  the  pro 
ceedings  in  writing,  keep  the  original  roll  signed  by  the  members, 
attend  to  the  printing  and  sending  of  notices.  The  treasurer  shall 
collect  the  dues  and  fines,  pay  all  the  accounts  audited  by  the  Finance 
Committee,  and  report  at  each  meeting. 

ARTICLE  XIX. 

OFFENCES,  CONSEQUENCES  FOR  NON-APPEARANCE  BEFORE  COURT  MARTIAL, 

ETC. 

Each  instructor  of  a  squad  and  each  commissioned  and  non-commis 
sioned  officer  of  a  company  shall  take  note  of  all  offences  and  report  the 
offenders  to  the  Court  Martial  Committee,  who  shall  give  such  offenders 
reasonable  notice  to  appear  before  them  for  trial ;  and  if  such  offenders 
refuse  to  appear  at  the  time  specified,  unless  detained  by  absence  from 
the  city  or  by  sickness,  they  shall  be  expelled;  and  in  all  cases  where 
the  penalty  of  expulsion  has  been  incurred,  the  president  shall  order 
the  secretary  to  erase  the  name  of  the  expelled  member  from  the  roll. 
Sickness,  absence  from  the  city,  or  doing  United  States  or  State  duty, 
shall  be  received  as  an  excuse  for  non-attendance  from  drill,  meeting, 
or  parade.  . 


B  Y-LA  WS  OF  NE  W  YORK  ZOUA  VES.  3  1 

ARTICLE  XX. 
ARREARS  AND  DUES. 

Any  member  in  arrears  for  fines  or  dues  for  two  months  shall  be  ex 
pelled.  The  dues  shall  be  twelve  dollars  per  year,  payable  monthly. 

ARTICLE  XXI. 
SICKNESS  OF  MEMBERS,  PECUNIARY  AID,  ETC. 

In  case  of  sickness  of  any  member,  a  committee  of  two  shall  be  ap 
pointed  by  the  president  to  call  upon  him  and  ascertain  if  such  member 
is  in  need  of  assistance,  and,  in  case  the  committee  shall  report  that  he 
is  in  need  of  pecuniary  aid,  it  shall  be  granted  him  out  of  the  funds  of 
the  corps,  to  the  extent  of  four  dollars  per  week,  exclusive  of  medical 
attendance. 

ARTICLE  XXII. 
ASSESSMENTS,  ALTERATIONS  OF  BY-LAWS. 

Proposed  assessments  shall  be  per  capita,  and  adopted  by  a  majority 
vote.  These  by-laws  shall  not  be  altered  or  changed,  except  by  a  two- 
third  vote  of  the  whole  corps ;  and  not  then  unless  thirty  days'  previous 
notice  in  writing  shall  have  been  given  of  the  proposed  alteration. 

ARTICLE  XXIII. 

Until  the  election  of  officers  one  instructor  shall  be  appointed  by  a 
majority  vote  of  the  corps.  A  set  of  rules  and  regulations  to  govern 
the  conduct  of  members  while  at  drill,  shall  be  hereafter  adopted  by  the 
corps  with  offences  described,  and  penalties  for  each  offence  attached 
thereto. 

CIVIL  OFFICERS  AND  STANDING  COMMITTEES. 

Rush  C.  Hawkins,  President  (and  treasurer,  pro  teni). 
Jas.  J.  Delaney,  Vice-President. 
Henry  Barclay,  Secretary,  pro  tern. 

COMMITTEE  ON  MILITARY  INSTRUCTION  AND  LECTURES. 

Hawkins,  Boese,  Parisen, 

Walsh,  Copcutt,  Macauley, 

Higginson. 

COURT-MARTIAL  COMMITTEE. 

Delaney,  Barclay,  Graham, 

Frank,  O.  Parisen,  LeBaire, 

Tooker. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  CIVIL  CLUB DRILL  MASTER 

SERG'T  BENZONI — FIRST  SHOT  OF  THE  CIVIL 

WAR FIRING    ON     FORT    SUMTER FIRST 

OFFER  OF  NEW  YORK  TROOPS ORGANIZA 
TION  OF  9TH   N.   Y.   VOLUNTEERS FIELD 

OFFICERS CASTLE    GARDEN RIKER^S    IS 
LAND SEVERE   DRILLS NEW  UNIFORM- 
INSPECTION    BY    GEN'L    JOHN   A.    DIX — OFF 

FOR  FORTRESS  MONROE — PRESENTATION  OF 

FLAGS      IN      FIFTH      AVENUE ARRIVAL     AT 

NEWPORT  NEWS. 

A  SUFFICIENT  number  of  men  were 
*"^  soon  enrolled  and  the  organization 
of  a  civil  club,  the  governing  body  pro  tem, 
completed.  No  military  officers  were  elected, 
all  members  for  the  present  being  privates. 
The  officers  appointed  to  drill  the  company 
to-day  took  their  places  in  the  ranks  to-morrow, 
and  observed  the  same  attention  to  the  orders 
of  the  newly  appointed  officers  as  had  been 
accorded  to  them. 

Through   the   courtesy   of  the  commanding 
officer   at   Governor's  Island,  the  services  of  a 


SERGEANT  BENZONI.  33 

most  thorough  and  efficient  drill  sergeant  of 
the  regular  army  were  procured.  The  sergeant 
acted  as  general  instructor  and  drill-master. 
At  each  drill,  he  designated  the  acting  captains, 
lieutenants,  sergeants  and  corporals.  This 
system  permitted  each  member  to  acquire  prac 
tice  and  receive  instruction  in  all  grades  of  an 
infantry  company. 

In  addition  to  this  system  of  instruction  the 
scheme  embraced,  on  the  nights  when  the  regu 
lar  instructor  was  not  present,  the  detailing  of 
different  members  of  the  company  to  act  as 
instructors  at  the  regular  out  or  indoor  drill. 
This  gave  to  the  youngsters  confidence  and 
educated  them  in  the  necessary  habit  of  com 
mand. 

No  member  of  the  New  York  Zouaves  can 
ever  forget  his  old  drill-master,  Sergeant  Louis 
Benzoni,  and  each  can  recall  the  picture  of  the 
erect  old  soldier  marching  back  and  forth  in 
front  of  the  line  of  green  recruits,  snapping  out 
his  orders  and  directions  in  his  quaint  military 
broken  English,  doing  his  facings  and  going 
through  the  manual  of  arms  with  such  vim, 
finish,  and  correctness,  that  they  were  more 
inclined  to  regard  him  as  a  perfect  piece 
of  machinery,  than  mere  human  flesh  and 
blood.  Sergeant  Benzoni  constantly  strove  by 
his  exaggerations  to  make  his  lessons  in  pos- 


34      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

tures  and  movements  impressive  and  valuable 
to  his  pupils,  and  each  considering  them  the 
requisite  of  perfection  to  be  attained,  earnestly 
tried  to  imitate  them. 

He  was  a  consummate  manualist,  exact  and 
exacting,  and  as  to  the  school  of  the  company, 
could  handle  men  as  well  as  he  could  the 
musket.  He  was  very  much  in  earnest  and 
would  admit  of  no  inattention. 

The  result  of  his  work  as  shown  in  the  drill 
and  discipline  of  the  regiment  which  these 
young  men  organized  and  officered  at  the 
commencement  of  the  civil  war,  proved  that 
Sergeant  Benzoni,  "builded  better  than  he 
knew." 

Headquarters  were  first  established  at  the 
Mercer  House,  but  later  the  organization  moved 
to  the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Thompson  Streets, 
where  the  Judson  Memorial  Church  now  stands, 
and  on  which  historic  spot  the  regiment  known 
as  the  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers  (Hawkins 
Zouaves)  was  organized. 

Washington  Parade  Ground  was  across  the 
street  from  the  quarters,  and  was  used  by  the 
Zouaves  as  a  drill-ground.  Their  novel  and 
interesting  manoeuvres  were  eagerly  watched 
by  crowds  of  interested  spectators.  In  this 
routine  work — morning  and  evening  drills  be 
ing  the  daily  practice — the  company  continued 


FIRST  SHOT  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR.  35 

until  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter,  April  12,  1861, 
which  is  popularly  called  "  the  first  shot  of  the 
war." 

As  a  matter  of  history,  it  may  be  interesting 
to  state  that  in  January,  1861,  the  sole  force  of 
the  United  States  Army  in  Barrancas  Barracks, 
Pensacola  Harbor,  Florida,  was  company  G, 
First  Artillery,  commanded  by  Captain  John  H. 
Winder,  with  Lieutenants  Slemmer  and  Gil- 
man.  Winder  was  later  brigadier-general  in 
the  Confederate  service,  and  well  known  in  con 
nection  with  the  military  prisons  of  the  South. 
It  was  rumored  that  troops  from  Alabama  and 
Florida  were  nearly  ready  to  seize  the  navy 
yard  and  forts,  and  on  the  morning  of  January 
8th,  Lieutenant  Slemmer  moved  all  the  powder 
to  the  inner  magazines  of  Fort  Barrancas,  caused 
all  the  batteries  to  be  put  in  working  order,  and 
that  night,  for  the  first  time,  placed  a  sergeant's 
guard  in  the  fort  with  the  draw-bridge  raised. 

About  midnight  a  party  of  twenty  men  came 
to  the  fort  to  take  possession,  expecting  to  find 
it  unoccupied  as  usual.  Being  challenged,  and 
not  answering  or  halting  when  ordered,  the 
guard  fired  upon  them,  when  they  turned  and 
ran  toward  Warrington.  The  long  roll  beat, 
and  the  company  double-quicked  to  the  fort, 
but  too  late  to  capture  the  enemy.  This  was 
the  first  trun  in  the  war  on  the  Union  side. 


36      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

The  next  morning,  January  gth,  at  9.30  o'clock 
the  steamer  "  Star  of  the  West,"  with  two  hun 
dred  troops  and  supplies  for  Fort  Sumter,  was 
fired  upon  from  a  masked  battery  on  Morris 
Island,  Charleston  Harbor,  and  forced  to  put 
about  and  go  to  sea. 

At  4.30  o'clock  A.  M.,  April  12,  1861,  Captain 
George  S.  James,  commanding  the  battery  at 
James  Island  (Fort  Johnson),  fired  a  shell  from 
a  ten  inch  mortar  at  Fort  Sumter.  It  burst 
about  one  hundred  feet  above  the  fort,  and  was 
followed  by  a  general  bombardment  from  all 
the  encircling  batteries. 

The  entire  North  was  in  a  white  heat  of  rage 
and  excitement  on  receipt  of  this  startling 
news. 

About  noon  on  the  I5th  of  April  the  bulletin 
boards  of  the  daily  newspapers  announced  the 
call  of  President  Lincoln  for  seventy-five  thou 
sand  volunteers  to  assist  in  putting  down  the 
rebellion.  Soon  after,  members  of  the  com 
pany — G.  A.  C.  Barnett  being  the  first — Com 
menced  calling  upon  Mr.  Hawkins,  the  president 
of  the  organization,  for  the  purpose  of  urging 
immediate  action  and  tender  of  services.  They 
notified  other  members,  and  that  night  there 
was  a  meeting  of  a  majority  of  the  members  at 
the  armory.  It  was  brief,  lively  and  patriotic. 
No  speeches  were  made  and  none  were  neces- 


FIRST  OFFER  OF  NEW  YORK  TROOPS.  37 

sary.  Inside  the  walls  of  that  ramshackle  old 
building  every  cubic  inch  of  air  was  filled  with 
earnest  resolve  and  manly  determination  to  do, 
and  if  necessary  to  die  in  the  cause  of  their 
country.  It  was  resolved  to  commence  recruit 
ing  for  a  regiment  at  once,  and  the  president, 
Hawkins,  was  authorized  to  proceed  to  Albany 
to  make  a  tender  of  service,  and  to  obtain 
permission  to  raise  a  regiment.  He  took  the 
eleven  o'clock  train  that  night,  and  at  a  few 
minutes  after  seven  o'clock,  the  morning  of  the 
sixteenth  of  April,  was  sitting  on  the  steps  of 
the  capitol  leading  to  the  executive  chamber 
waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the  Governor,  who 
came  to  his  office  a  few  minutes  after.  The 
business  in  hand  was  attended  to  in  the 
most  direct  manner  and  no  words  wasted.  The 
Governor,  under  existing  laws  of  the  State,  was 
not  authorized  to  grant  official  authority,  but 
gave  verbal  permission  to  go  ahead.  The 
interview  closed  by  his  saying:  "Yours  is  the 
first  tender  of  services  I  have  had." 

At  the  time  this  matter  was  not  regarded  as 
being  of  any  importance,  but  since  the  close  of 
the  war  many  claims  about  " Firsts"  have  been 
submitted,  and  this  has  been  taken  from  its 
slumber  in  the  recesses  of  memory  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  company  with  the  others. 

When    President     Hawkins    reached     New 


38      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

York  upon  his  return,  he  found  a  recruiting 
office  already  opened  in  the  company  rooms, 
and  the  members  of  the  company  busily  en 
gaged  in  the  work  of  enrolling  recruits.  Appli 
cants  presented  themselves  in  such  numbers 
that  the  success  of  the  movement  was  assured 
from  the  very  beginning.  The  work  of  organi 
zing  the  regiment  was  proceeded  with  at  once. 
More  than  enough  men  from  the  old  company 
enlisted  to  provide  officers  for  nine  companies. 
The  surplus  was  distributed  among  the  com 
panies  as  non-commissioned  officers.  The 
positions  and  rank  of  line-officers  were  decided 
by  mutual  agreement  among  the  members  of 
the  old  company.  The  field  and  staff  positions, 
excepting  that  of  colonel,  were  left  open  for  the 
present,  to  be  filled  later. 

Mr.  Hawkins  became  colonel,  not  only  by  the 
voice  of  the  company  officers,  but  by  virtue 
of  the  authority  conferred  upon  him  by  the 
Governor.  His  experience  and  knowledge  of 
military  affairs  was  not  strictly  confined  to  such 
theories  as  might  be  acquired  in  the  ranks  of 
citizen  organizations,  as  he  had,  while  still  a 
youth,  during  the  Mexican  War,  served  a  term 
of  enlistment  in  the  United  States  Cavalry. 
The  experience  gained  during  that  period  of 
service  was  of  great  assistance  to  him  in  the 
present  emergency. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  NINTH  N.   Y.   VOLS.         39 

Andrew  S.  Graham  was  chosen  senior  captain, 
followed  in  the  order  named  by  William  G. 
Barnett,  Eugene  Li  Baire,  Otto  Parisen,  etc. 

Recruits  were  enrolled  so  rapidly  that  the 
captains  were  enabled  to  select  from  the  large 
number  only  those  who  in  their  judgment 
seemed  best  adapted,  physically  and  mentally, 
for  soldiers. 

The  companies  having  been  organized,  and 
non-commissioned  officers  appointed,  six  com 
panies  were,  on  April  23,  1861,  sworn  into  the 
State  service,  and  the  remaining  four  on  April 
27th. 

The  tenth  company,  Captain  Edward  Jardine, 
was  taken  into  the  regiment  as  a  complete  or 
ganization.  The  captain  had  not  been  a  mem 
ber  of  the  old  company,  but  had  some  military 
experience,  having  served  his  time  as  a  militia 
man  in  the  yth  Reg.  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y. 

The  positions  of  field  and  staff  officers  were 
now  to  be  filled.  George  F.  Betts  (a  son  of 
Judge  Betts)  was  commissioned  lieutenant- 
colonel.  He  was  a  well  known  New  York 
lawyer,  a  U.  S.  Commissioner,  and  clerk  of  the 
U.  S.  Circuit  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of 
New  York,  and  had  been  a  field  officer  in  the 
militia  for  many  years.  He  was  considered  an 
excellent  tactician  in  battalion  movements. 

The  position  of  major  was  filled  by  Edgar  A. 


4O     NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Kimball,  a  native  of  Vermont,  who  at  that  time 
occupied  a  position  in  the  N.  Y.  Custom  House. 
He  was  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  War,  wherein 
he  had  greatly  distinguished  himself,  having 
been  brevetted  for  gallant  and  meritorious  con 
duct  at  Contreras  and  Cherubusco. 

Another  Mexican  veteran,  James  W.  Evans, 
was  commissioned  adjutant. 

The  surgeon  chosen  was  George  H.  Hum 
phreys  who,  while  yet  a  medical  student,  had 
served  with  the  British  Army  during  the 
Crimean  War,  and  had  further  served  with  the 
French  Army  in  the  war  with  Austria. 

The  assistant  surgeon,  Dr.  J.  P.  P.  White,  was 
also  appointed  at  this  time.  He  proved  to  be 
an  excellent  surgeon  and  a  most  thorough, 
painstaking,  conscientious  and  humane  gentle 
man. 

These  gentlemen  were  chosen  from  among  a 
number  of  competitors  for  the  various  positions 
named,  after  careful  deliberation  and  investiga 
tion  by  Colonel  Hawkins,  as  to  fitness,  character, 
antecedents,  etc.  Their  records  during  the  war 
showed  the  wisdom  of  the  choice. 

On  May  4,  1861,  the  entire  regiment  was 
sworn  into  the  service  of  the  United  States  by 
Captain  Hayman  of  the  regular  army,  and  was 
officially  designated  as  9th  New  York  Volunteer 
Infantry. 


CASTLE  GARDEN.  41 

Up  to  this  time  much  dissatisfaction  and  in 
convenience  had  been  experienced  by  the  regi 
ment  from  unsuitable  quarters.  The  corner  of 
Fourth  and  Thompson  Streets,  Center  Market, 
Astor's  Riding  Ring,  on  Lafayette  Place,  and 
Castle  Garden,  were  successively  assigned  it 
for  that  purpose,  the  latter  being  the  only  place 
that  was  at  all  suitable.  Previous  to  having 
these  quarters  assigned  there  was  no  permanent 
location ;  the  company  rooms  at  Fourth  and 
Thompson  Streets  were  not  large  enough  to 
accommodate  the  regiment  and  the  men  were 
compelled  to  return  to  their  homes  each  night. 
Consequently  there  had  been  little  if  any  oppor 
tunity  for  drill.  For  many  years  previous  to  1 86 1 , 
Castle  Garden  had  been  used  as  a  public  theatre, 
where  operas,  concerts  and  entertainments  of 
like  character  were  given.  It  was  here  that 
Jenny  Lind  first  sang  in  public  before  starting 
on  her  famous  American  tour,  under  the  man 
agement  of  P.  T.  Barnum.  Just  previous  to  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  the  building  had  been 
acquired  by  the  State  of  New  York  and  used  as 
an  emigrant  depot,  but  no  alterations  had  been 
made  in  the  interior.  The  State  assigned  the 
building  to  the  New  York  Zouaves  as  quarters, 
and  on  the  following  Sunday — for  the  first  time 
since  the  days  of  the  Revolution  when  it  was  a 
government  fortification — religious  services  were 


42      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

held  in  the  place  by  the  chaplain  of  the  regi 
ment,  Rev.  T.  W.  Conway,  who  later  became 
Superintendent  of  Freedmen  in  the  Department 
of  the  South.  The  various  companies  were 
assigned  to  different  parts  of  the  auditorium ; 
and  thus  Castle  Garden  became  the  home  and 
a  wooden  theatre  bench  became  the  bed  of  the 
new  soldiers.  While  the  regiment  had  not 
yet  received  its  arms,  a  sufficient  number  of 
muskets  were  procured  to  arm  the  guard. 

Here  there  was  an  opportunity  to  settle 
down  to  the  work  of  properly  forming  the 
regiment.  Details  were  regularly  made  for 
guard  duty ;  the  ceremony  of  guard  mount  was 
performed  after  a  fashion  ;  sentries,  after  being 
carefully  instructed  in  their  duties,  were  posted 
at  various  points,  and  while  a  great  deal  of 
liberty  was  allowed  and  passes  freely  given,  the 
men  began  to  feel  some  of  the  restraints  of 
military  life. 

Even  at  this  early  period  of  service  indivi 
dual  traits  began  to  be  noticeable  among 
the  boys.  The  painstaking  could  be  easily 
distinguished  from  the  careless,  and  the  public- 
spirited  from  the  selfish.  A  case  in  illustra 
tion  is  the  following:  T\vo  members  of  Com 
pany  D  who  believed  in  keeping  their  company 
quarters  clean  and  in  a  condition  always  ready 
for  inspection,  and  who  at  the  same  time  de- 


"SETTING  UP"   THE  RECRUITS.  43 

sired  to  set  an  example  for  the  others  in  the 
company,  regularly  swept,  cleaned  and  dusted 
the  company  benches  and  cushions  in  the  "  dress 
circle,"  shaking  and  folding  the  blankets  of  many 
of  their  comrades,  who  would  as  regularly 
"  shake "  themselves  free  from  their  blankets 
and  stalk  haughtily  away  to  more  interesting 
and  less  menial  occupations.  This  continued 
for  some  days  until  the  junior  member  of  the 
quarters-cleaning  firm  remarked  that  he  thought 
"  it  time  for  a  change."  "  Never  mind,"  quoth 
the  senior  member,  "  before  long  they  will  be 
shaking  and  cleaning  for  us."  Prophetic  words ! 
Before  long  the  senior  member  of  the  firm  be 
came  First  Sergeant  Horner,  and  proceeded  to 
shake  and  dust  Company  D  in  a  way  that 
opened  its  eyes.  A  few  months  later  the  junior 
member  also  got  his  stripes,  and  Corporal  Sear 
ing  found  it  his  turn  to  insist  on  thorough  police 
work  by  the  former  laggards. 

The  task  of  " setting  up"  and  drilling  was 
now  begun  in  earnest.  The  companies  were 
divided  into  squads  and  each,  under  the  com 
mand  of  an  officer,  was  carefully  instructed  in 
the  preliminaries  of  military  drill.  The  position 
of  the  soldier,  the  facings  and  marchings  were 
gone  over  in  the  minutest  detail,  and  in  a  very 
few  days  the  improvement  in  the  bearing  and 
carriage  of  the  men  was  especially  noticeable. 


44      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Sentries  were  stationed  at  the  gates  and  in 
structed  to  admit  only  members  of  the  regi 
ment,  and  so  attentive  were  the  men  to  their 
duties  that,  on  their  departure  for  Riker's  Island, 
no  one  would  have  recognized  them  as  the 
green  recruits  of  three  weeks  ago. 

On  May  15  the  regiment  left  Castle  Garden 
for  Riker's  Island,  where  commodious  barracks 
had  recently  been  erected.  Large  crowds  had 
assembled  at  the  Battery,  and  amidst  their  deaf 
ening  cheers  the  "  Ninth"  marched  aboard  the 
transport. 

The  2d  New  York  were  in  line  at  the  water's 
edge,  their  drum  corps  beating  a  salute  in  re 
sponse  to  that  of  the  Ninth,  while  Captain  Mott's 
battery  of  two  12-pounder  howitzers  gave  a  fare 
well  salute  of  eleven  rounds,  and  the  greatest 
enthusiasm  continued  until  the  Zouaves  disap 
peared  from  view  up  the  East  River. 

Arriving  at  their  destination  about  noon  of 
the  same  day,  the  regiment  disembarked  and 
found  the  new  quarters  all  that  could  be 
desired  for  their  accommodation.  They  at 
once  entered  upon  the  long  and  tedious  daily 
drills,  both  officers  and  men  settling  down 
seriously  to  the  difficult  task  of  creating  a  regi 
ment  which  would  be  equal  to  the  occasion  when 
called  upon  in  the  day  of  trial.  It  is  deliber 
ately  and  positively  asserted  that  this  organi- 


SEVERE  DRILLS.  45 

zation  was  at  this  time  unique  in  its  freedom 
from  the  serio-comic  experiences  of  nearly  all 
new  regiments  resulting  from  lack  of  knowledge 
of  military  matters  among  officers  and  men. 
The  ludicrous  effect  of  officers,  totally  ignorant  of 
the  first  rudiments  of  military  tactics,  endeavor 
ing  to  teach  the  manual  to  men  as  uninformed 
as  themselves,  was  never  seen  at  any  time  in  the 
"  Ninth."  The  officers  thoroughly  understood 
the  theory  and  practice  of  the  school  of  the  sol 
dier  and  of  the  company,  and  were  also  well 
posted  in  battalion  movements.  In  teaching 
the  men  they  started  at  the  beginning  and  not 
in  the  middle.  The  first  instructions  were  in 
the  position  of  a  soldier.  They  were  directed 
how  to  stand  correctly,  and  informed  why  a  cer 
tain  posture  and  position  was  necessary.  The 
drill  in  positions,  facings  and  marching  were 
repeated  twice  each  day  without  arms,  and  con 
tinued  daily  until  the  men  had  acquired  perfect 
confidence  and  freedom  from  hesitation  and  in 
decision.  Muskets  were  then  distributed  and 
the  same  care  exercised  in  the  instruction  of  the 
manual  of  arms.  The  men  were  advanced  step 
by  step.  The  reason  why  each  movement 
should  be  performed  strictly  according  to  the 
manual  was  explained,  and  their  minds  were 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  such  movements 
could  be  performed  with  more  rapidity,  and  the 


46      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

arms  handled  with  more  efficiency  by  strictly 
observing*  the  instructions  given. 

The  result  of  this  careful  drilling  by  officers 
who  understood  what  they  were  teaching  was 
soon  shown  by  the  soldierly  appearance  the 
regiment  presented  on  evening  parade,  and 
when  it  marched  down  Broadway  on  the  5th  of 
June,  under  orders  for  Fortress  Monroe,  it  is 
safe  to  state,  and  without  fear  of  contradiction, 
that  for  accuracy  in  the  manual,  general  knowl 
edge  of  drill,  and  steadiness  in  marching,  it  sur 
passed  any  regiment  of  citizen  soldiers  that  had 
ever  marched  down  that  famous  thoroughfare. 

When  the  task  of  raising  and  equipping  the 
regiment  had  only  just  begun  the  Colonel 
feared  that  the  State  authorities  would  not  be 
reliable  in  relation  to  the  important  essentials 
involved  in  the  great  emergency.  So  without 
authority  or  consultation  he  took  the  liberty 
and  responsibility  of  making  contracts  for  every 
item — save  blankets,  overcoats  and  arms — neces 
sary  to  the  launching  of  a  regiment,  and  when 
all  contracts  were  fulfilled,  the  regiment  clothed 
and  equipped,  the  cost  per  man  was  about 
$21.50,  instead  of  about  double  that  amount 
paid  by  the  State  for  " shoddy"  uniforms  alone, 
which  commenced  to  fall  to  pieces  as  soon  as 
the  wearers  reached  the  field.  The  uniforms 
supplied  to  the  regiment  by  private  contract 


NEW  UNIFORMS.  47 

were  made  of  the  best  material  obtainable  at  the 
time,  and  lasted  in  fairly  good  condition  through 
the  whole  of  the  first  summer  in  the  field.  While 
here  at  Riker's  Island  the  uniforms  were  issued 
to  the  regiment.  They  were  of  what  is  com 
monly  called  the  Zouave  pattern  :  close,  easy- 
fitting,  permitting  full  action  of  body  and  arms, 
artistic  in  form  and  picturesque,  but  of  modest 
tone;  of  army  blue,  the  trousers  slightly  full, 
plaited  at  the  waist,  with  a  magenta  braid  down 
the  outer  seam ;  jacket  and  vest  with  magenta 
trimmings,  a  sash  of  the  same  color  of  woolen 
material,  wide  enough  to  cover  the  stomach  and 
bowels  of  the  wearer ;  white  leggings,  and  red 
fez  with  a  blue  tassel.  It  was  totally  different 
from  the  uniforms  issued  by  the  United  States 
authorities,  and  no  nattier  one  was  worn  by  any 
body  of  troops  in  the  service. 

Previous  to  the  departure  of  the  regiment  the 
news  agents  of  New  York  City,  with  whom 
Major  Kimball  had  formerly  been  associated  in 
a  business  way,  presented  him  with  a  handsome 
sword.  Later  a  magnificent  pair  of  epaulettes 
came  from  friends  in  the  custom  house,  as  a 
token  of  their  esteem  for  his  faithfulness,  and 
for  his  patriotism  to  his  country. 

The  entire  regiment  had  been  vaccinated  by 
the  surgeons,  and  its  sanitary  condition  pro 
nounced  most  satisfactory.  Being  fully  armed 


48      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

and   equipped  an    inspection   and    review  was 
ordered. 

On  the  first  day  of  June  Major-General  John 
A.  Dix,  commanding  the  department,  accom 
panied  by  Colonel  Keyes  of  the  regular  service, 
reviewed  the  regiment  after  it  had  executed  an 
intricate  battalion  drill. 

It  was  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle,  and  after 
dress  parade,  was  inspected  by  the  General,  who, 
as  he  passed  up  and  down  the  line,  expressed 
his  satisfaction  in  most  flattering  terms.  He  in 
formed  Colonel  Hawkins  that  he  was  extremely 
gratified  with  the  completeness  of  all  details, 
and  at  the  review  after  inspection  expressed 
himself  as  delighted  at  the  perfection  in  march 
ing  displayed  by  the  men,  and  their  proficiency 
in  drill,  knowing  what  a  short  time  their  brief 
stay  in  camp  had  allowed  for  instruction.  The 
General  was  proud  that  such  a  fine  body  of 
young  men  had  been  assigned  to  his  command, 
and  said  he  hoped  and  believed  that  the  regi 
ment  would  one  day  distinguish  itself. 

On  June  ist  the  Colonel  issued  an  order 
which  permitted  friends  of  the  regiment  to  visit 
"  Camp  Hawkins,"  as  the  camp  on  the  island 
was  designated,  and  on  the  following  Sunday  a 
large  number  of  friends,  relatives  and  others 
availed  themselves  of  the  privilege. 

The  camp  presented  a  gala  appearance  ;  the 


IN  CAMP  ON  RIKE&S  ISLAND.  49 

barracks  and  company  streets  being  decorated 
with  patriotic  designs  in  evergreens,  and  gay 
festoons  of  red,  white  and  blue,  each  company 
having  its  peculiar  novelty. 

Company  A  was  presented  with  a  national 
flag  by  Sgt  George  W.  Debevoise,  while  Com 
panies  C,  D  and  G  each  received  a  set  of  colors 
from  friends  of  the  respective  companies,  the 
ceremonies  taking  place  on  the  parade  ground, 
and  being  much  enjoyed  by  the  host  of  inter 
ested  spectators. 

The  month  passed  on  Riker's  Island  was— 
if  the  continuous  and  severe  drills  are  left  out 
of  consideration — one  continuous  picnic.  Each 
company  vied  in  its  endeavor  to  excel  its  neigh 
bor  in  the  tasteful  decorations  of  the  company 
streets.  There  were  always  numerous  visitors 
in  the  afternoons,  and  on  stated  occasions  when 
general  visiting  was  permitted,  the  camp  was 
crowded  with  friends  and  relatives  of  both 
sexes,  who  loudly  applauded  the  drilling  on  the 
parade  ground.  The  Zouaves  were  conscious 
of  the  fact  that  they  were  the  cynosure  of  all 
eyes,  and  were  looked  upon  as  real  soldiers  ; 
they  were  in  a  military  camp  and  presumed 
they  were  living  the  lives  of  genuine  soldiers. 
Their  mothers,  sisters,  and  young  women  friends 
were  sympathetic  and  inclined  to  coddle  and 
pet  these  poor  boys,  who  were  undergoing  such 


5O      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

hardships  and  privations  from  pure  patriotism 
and  for  their  country's  good ;  and  they,  "  the 
beggars,"  accepted  all  this  as  their  due,  and 
tried  to  make  themselves  believe  that  they  were 
in  some  degrees  heroes,  whereas  they  were 
really  having  an  enjoyable  time.  Comfortably 
housed,  with  an  abundance  of  good  food,  with 
out  the  trouble  of  preparing  it,  they  were  nearly 
as  well  off  as  a  modern  militia  regiment  in  a 
State  camp. 

Orders  finally  came  for  the  Ninth  to  proceed 
to  Fortress  Monroe,  and  at  noon  on  Wednes 
day,  June  5th,  the  regiment  left  Riker's  Island, 
aboard  a  steamer,  and  sailed  for  New  York. 
Landing  at  the  foot  of  East  3Oth  Street,  after 
much  delay  in  effecting  their  alignments--  due 
to  the  crowd  which  had  gathered  to  greet  them— 
the  regiment  marched  to  the  residence  of  Mr. 
A.  W.  Griswold,  where  it  was  halted,  formed  in 
line,  and  brought  to  attention.  Rev.  Gardiner 
Spring  came  forward  with  a  beautiful  stand  of 
colors,  and  made  the  following  remarks  : 

"  Colonel  Hawkins,  Officers  and  Soldiers  of  the  Ninth  Regiment, 
New  York  Volunteers — I  have  been  requested  by  Mrs.  Griswold,  now 
here,  to  present  to  you  this  splendid  emblem  of  our  nationality,  and  I 
desire  to  do  this  with  a  few  introductory  remarks.  I,  who  for  over 
fifty  years,  have  been  enlisted  under  the  banner  of  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
find  myself  exactly  in  such  a  novel  position  as  yourselves,  who  have 
enlisted  in  the  noble  cause  of  defending  your  country  against  a  band 
of  outlaws,  who  defying  all  laws  of  righteousness,  are  striving  to 
overthrow  this,  the  happiest  government  on  earth. 

"Secession  dates  back  as  far  as  the  days  when  the  ten  tribes  of 


FLAG  PRESENTATION.  81 

Israel  were  lost,  and  even  further,  for  the  devil  himself  was  a  seces 
sionist. 

"  I  look  upon  this  vile  controversy  as  the  most  wicked  ever  gotten 
up  by  man.  I  give  you  my  blessing.  The  blessings  and  prayers  of 
the  whole  civilized  world  are  with  you.  I  pledge  myself  that  the 
prayers  and  blessings  of  the  Brick  Church  shall  not  be  wanting. 

' '  May  the  God  of  battles  be  with  you,  and  in  the  hour  of  danger 
hover  over  you.  Accompanying  this  flag  is  a  letter  from  Mrs. 
Griswold,  which  I  will  now  read  for  you,  as  follows: 

"  '  No.  381  FIFTH  AVENUE,  June  5th,  1861. 

Colonel  Hawkins,  Commandant  of  the  Ninth  Regiment,  New  York 
Volunteers. 

COLONEL, — I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  you  for  your  gallant  regi 
ment  of  Zouaves  these  colors. 

The  Union  of  which  this  flag  is  the  emblem  was  established  by  our 
fathers.  Its  cost  was  the  price  of  blood.  To  their  children  they  have 
confided  the  trust  of  guarding  and  upholding  it.  What  obligation  can 
be  more  sacredly  binding  upon  them  ?  For  more  than  three-fourths  of 
a  century  this  ensign  has  commanded  the  respect  of  every  people,  on 
land  and  sea,  and  wherever  civilization  is  known,  even  penetrating  the 
dark  corners  of  the  earth,  carrying  light  and  freedom  with  it.  While 
thirty  millions  of  people  under  its  folds  were  enjoying  life,  liberty  and 
happiness,  as  no  other  people  ever  did,  foul  traitors  have  raised  their 
fratricidal  hands  against  it. 

The  Government  has  called  upon  its  loyal  citizens  to  come  to  its 
defense. 

The  alacrity  and  zeal  with  which  you  and  others  have  responded 
to  that  call  awaken  in  our  hearts  the  liveliest  emotions  and  gratitude, 

It  is  beyond  our  province  to  follow  this  standard  to  the  battle  field; 
but  we  can  and  will  follow  with  our  prayers  and  blessings  those  who 
bear  it,  imploring  Him  who  holds  in  his  hands  the  destiny  of  nations 
to  protect  and  preserve  those  who  stand  by  their  country's  flag  in  its 
hour  of  peril;  and  that  He  will  speedily  restore  reason  and  loyalty  to 
that  rash  and  misguided  people  who  have  assailed  it.  Accept  for  your 
self,  and  your  noble  regiment  of  Zouaves,  my  kind  wishes. 

MARY  ADELAIDE  GRISWOLD.'" 

In  a  voice  tremulous  with  emotion,  Colonel 
Hawkins  in  a  few  appropriate  words  thanked 
Mrs.  Griswold  for  the  flag,  and  solemnly  prom 
ised  that  he  and  his  regiment  would  protect  it 
with  their  lives  if  necessary  to  save  it  from 


§2      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

humiliation  or  surrender,  and  that  it  should 
return  with  them  unblemished. 

The  color-bearer  then  received  the  flag  and 
it  was  exhibited  to  the  Zouaves.  It  was  of  silk, 
handsomely  mounted,  and  was  a  most  beautiful 
as  well  as  expensive  token. 

On  the  lance  surmounting  the  staff  was  a 
square  plate  of  silver,  upon  which  was  engraved, 

PRESENTED  BY 

MRS.  ALMA  W.  GRISWOLD, 

TO    THE 

NINTH  REGIMENT  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS, 

JUNE  STH,  1 86 1. 
LEXINGTON,  APRIL  I9TH,  1776. 
BALTIMORE,  APRIL  IQTH,  1861. 
MEMORIA  IN  STERNA. 

The  regiment  then  wheeled  into  column  and 
marched  to  the  residence  of  Mrs.  William  B. 
Moffat,  where  again  swinging  into  line,  another 
standard  was  presented. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Wiley,  of  Christ  Church,  repre 
sented  Mrs.  Moffat,  and  in  a  touching  address, 
delivered  the  flag  into  the  custody  of  Colonel 
Hawkins,  who,  in  accepting  it,  in  well-chosen 
and  patriotic  language,  again  pledged  himself 
and  the  Zouaves  to  defend  the  colors  with  their 
lives  if  necessary,  and  to  bring  them  back  un 
tainted  by  dishonor. 

The  standard  was  six  feet  by  eight,  made  of 


OFF  FOR  THE  FRONT.  S3 

double  silk  of  solid  red.     Great  taste  was  dis 
played  in  its  design. 

Upon  the  centre  was  this  inscription : 

NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 
Toujours  Pret. 

This  motto  has  since  become  the  watchword 
of  the  Zouaves,  and  true  to  its  test  they  were 
found  to  be  "  Always  Ready." 

Once  more  the  regiment  wheeled  into  column 
and  resumed  the  march  down  the  avenue  to 
Broadway.  The  sidewalks  along  the  entire 
route  were  packed  with  citizens,  'who,  from 
Union  Square  to  the  Battery,  gave  them  an 
ovation  which  will  never  be  forgotten,  and 
caused  each  man  to  mentally  resolve  that  he 
would  never  bring  disgrace  on  the  beautiful 
standards  or  on  the  city  which  gave  him  so 
proud  a  farewell. 

Arriving  at  Pier  4,  North  River,  the  regiment 
experienced  the  greatest  difficulty  in  forcing  its 
way  through  the  masses  of  people  there  gath 
ered.  Colonel  Hawkins  deemed  it  unsafe  to 
proceed  to  sea  in  what  he  considered  the 
crowded  condition  of  the  "  Marion,"  the  vessel 
supplied  by  the  Quartermaster's  Department  for 
the  transportation  of  the  regiment,  and  after 
some  hours  of  delay  in  unwinding  red  tape 
the  "George  Peabody"  was  provided  as  addi- 


54      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

tional  transportation.  The  two  vessels  sailed 
on  the  6th,  but  it  was  not  until  the  8th  of  the 
month  that  they  arrived  at  Fortress  Monroe. 

Colonel  Hawkins  upon  reporting  to  the  Com 
manding  General  there  was  ordered  to  proceed 
to  Newport  News,  where  the  regiment  arrived  in 
due  course,  disembarked,  and  stacking  arms, 
awaited  the  arrival  of  their  tents  and  camp 
equipage  before  establishing  a  regular  camp. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ADVANCE    ON    BIG  BETHEL THE   FIRST    BATTLE 

OF   THE    WAR GENERAL     CARR's    ACCOUNT 

OF    BATTLE    OF    BIG    BETHEL ACCOUNT   OF 

MAJOR    WINTHROP'S     DEATH     BY    A    SOUTH 
ERNER FORCES    ENGAGED    AND    LOSSES  OF 

BOTH     SIDES — ZOUAVES    TO    THE     FRONT- 
COLONEL    PHELPS   AND    HIS    PECULIARITIES 
—RIGHT  GENERAL  GUIDE  HERBERT  AND  HIS 

GRAVE  ERROR TWO  ZOUAVES   ATTEMPT  TO 

GET  A  "  PULL  "  WITH  COLONEL  PHELPS. 

UPON  the  arrival  of  the  camp  equipage,  tents 
were  pitched  in  a  wheat  field,  in  which 
the  grain  was  almost  ready  for  the  sickle.  This 
was  trampled  down  to  make  place  for  the  tents, 
which  the  men,  after  considerable  difficulty, 
being  only  amateurs  in  the  business,  succeeded 
in  erecting,  and  established  their  camp  after  a 
fashion.  On  the  day  following,  Sunday,  June 
9th,  a  beautiful  summer  day,  tents  were  struck 
and  camp  was  moved  to  a  point  west  of  the 
breastworks  and  on  a  line  with  them  and  near 
the  brink  of  the  high  wooded  bank  overlooking 
the  James  river.  The  camp  was  here  laid  out 


56     NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

in  approved  regulation  style.  It  was  an  ideal 
location.  There  was  considerable  shade  from 
the  trees  bordering  the  steep  bank  of  the  river, 
abundance  of  good  water  near  at  hand,  and  the 
ground  smooth  and  with  slope  enough  to  secure 
good  drainage. 

The  next  day  was  extremely  hot  and  sultry. 
It  was  a  memorable  one  in  the  annals  of  the 
war,  for  on  that  day  occurred  the  first  engage 
ment  in  the  Rebellion  which  deserved  to  be 
called  a  battle,  and  which  proved  disastrous  to 
the  Union  side. 

At  a  point  nine  miles  from  Fortress  Monroe, 
on  the  road  leading  from  Hampton  to  York- 
town,  lay  the  little  town  of  Bethel,  probably 
taking  its  name  from  the  church  located  there. 
It  was  known  that  the  enemy  had  intrenched 
and  was  holding  the  road  at  this  point ;  upon 
learning  which  Gen.  B.  F.  Butler  decided  to 
attack  him  there.  A  creek  crossed  the  road 
near  the  church.  A  bridge  over  this  creek  was 
commanded  by  a  fortification  of  the  enemy,  held 
by  Col.  D.  H.  Hill,  of  North  Carolina  (later 
Lieutenant-General  C.  S.  A.)  and  500  men.  A 
personal  reconnoissance  of  the  topography  of  the 
country  had  been  made  by  Major  Theodore 
Winthrop,  of  General  Butler's  staff,  and  the 
following  memorandum  for  the  attacking  move 
ment  was  drawn  up. 


FIRST  BATTLE  OF  THE  REBELLION.  57 

*' '  A  regiment  or  battalion  to  march  from  Newport  News,  and  a  regi 
ment  to  march  from  Camp  Hamilton  (Duryea's).  Each  will  be  sup 
ported  by  sufficient  reserves  under  arms  in  camp,  and  with  advanced 
guards  out  on  the  road  of  march. 

"  Duryea  to  push  out  two  picket  posts  at  10  P.M.  ;  one  two  and  a  half 
miles  beyond  Hampton,  on  the  county  road,  but  not  so  far  as  to  alarm 
the  enemy.  This  is  important.  Second  picket  half  as  far  as  the  first. 
Both  pickets  to  keep  as  much  out  of  sight  as  possible.  No  one  whatever 
to  be  allowed  to  pass  out  through  the  lines.  Persons  to  be  allowed  to 
pass  inward  toward  Hampton,  unless  it  appears  that  they  intend  to  go 
round  about  and  dodge  through  to  the  front. 

"  At  12 — midnight — Colonel  Duryea  will  march  his  regiment,  with 
sufficient  ammunition,  on  the  county  road  toward  Little  Bethel.  Scows 
will  be  provided  to  ferry  them  across  Hampton  Creek.  March  to  be 
rapid,  but  not  hurried.  A  howitzer  with  canister  and  shrapnel  to  go. 
A  wagon  with  planks  and  material  to  repair  the  Newmarket  bridge. 
Duryea  to  have  the  two  hundred  rifles;  he  will  pick  the  men  to  whom 
to  entrust  them.  Rocket  to  be  thrown  up  from  Newport  News.  Notify 
Commodore  Prendergrast  of  this  to  prevent  general  alarm. 

"  Newport  News  movement  to  be  made  somewhat  later,  as  the  dis 
tance  is  less. 

"  If  we  find  the  enemy  and  surprise  them,  men  will  fire  one  volley,  if 
desirable,  not  reload,  and  go  ahead  with  the  bayonet.  As  the  attack  is 
to  be  by  night  or  dusk  of  morning,  and  in  two  detachments,  our  people 
should  have  some  token — say  a  white  rag  or  dirty  white  rag  on  the  left 
arm. 

"  Perhaps  the  detachments  who  are  to  do  the  job  should  be  smaller 
than  a  regiment — three  hundred  or  five  hundred — as  the  right  and  left 
of  the  attack  would  be  more  easily  handled.  If  we  bag  the  Little  Bethel 
men,  push  on  to  Big  Bethel,  or  blow  up,  if  brick.  To  protect  our  rear 
— in  case  we  take  the  field-pieces,  and  the  enemy  should  march  his 
main  body  (if  he  has  any)  to  recover  them — it  would  be  wrell  to  have  a 
squad  of  competent  artillerists,  regular  or  other,  to  handle  the  captured 
guns  on  the  retirement  of  our  main  body;  also  spikes  to  spike  them,  if 
retaken.  George  Scott  to  have  a  shooting  iron. 

"Perhaps  Duryea's  men  would  be  awkward  with  a  new  arm  in  a 
night  or  early  dawn  attack,  where  there  will  be  little  marksman  duty  to 
perform. 

"  Most  of  the  work  will  be  done  with  the  bayonet,  and  they  are  al 
ready  handy  with  the  old  ones." 

Butler  goes  on  to  say  that  he  could  not  go 
with   the  command  himself,  and   selected    his 

*From  Butler's  Book,  page  267. 


58      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

next  officer  in  rank,  General  Pierce,  of  Massa 
chusetts.  It  was  his  desire  to  place  Colonel 
Phelps  in  command,  as  the  more  competent 
officer,  but  unfortunately  there  were  one  or  two 
colonels  outranking  Phelps,  who  were  no  more 
qualified  than  Pierce,  and  he  did  not  like  to  do 
these  officers  an  apparent  injustice,  and  besides 
did  not  think  the  enterprise  at  all  difficult  with 
six  of  his  men  to  one  of  the  enemy.  As  this 
was  the  first  engagement  of  the  war  it  may  be 
interesting  to  give  a  condensed  account  of  the 
operations  from  an  article  published  in  the 
Century  Magazine,  from  the  pen  of  the  late  Gen. 
Joseph  B.  Carr: 

"June  10,  1 86 1,  was  the  disastrous  fight  at 
Big  Bethel.  Sunday  noon,  June  gth,  General 
Ebenezer  W.  Pierce  was  ordered  to  Butler's 
headquarters  and  shown  a  plan  of  attack  on 
both  Little  and  Big  Bethel.  Minute  directions 
were  given  for  conducting  the  attack,  and  Pierce 
assigned  to  command.  March  began  at  mid 
night,  June  gth.  Pierce  was  to  lead  one  column 
from  Camp  Hamilton  to  a  point  near  Little 
Bethel,  where  the  column  from  Newport  News 
was  to  meet  him,  and  together  they  were 
to  surprise  both  Bethels.  The  troops  were 
the  ist,  2nd,  3rd,  5th,  and  yth  New  York,  de 
tachments  from  the  4th  Massachusetts  and  ist 
Vermont,  and  a  detachment  from  the  United 


ADVANCE  ON  BIG  BETHEL.  69 

States  Regular  Artillery  (n  men)  with  two 
field-pieces,  under  command  of  Lieutenant 
Greble.  We  had,  I  think,  not  less  than  3,500 
men.  The  watchword,  *  Boston,'  was  to  be 
shouted  when  unrecognized  troops  should  ap 
proach,  but  Colonel  Bendix,of  the  yth  New  York, 
did  not  receive  information  on  this  point.  The 
troops  were  approaching  the  point  of  meeting, 
and  some  had  gone  to  the  rear  of  Little  Bethel, 
when  Townsend's  (3rd  New  York)  and  Bendix's 
troops  approached  each  other — a  thick  wood 
having  intervened  for  part  of  the  march. 
Townsend's  men  wore  gray  uniforms,  and 
Bendix  supposing  them  to  be  the  enemy,  opened 
fire  with  musketry  and  one  piece  of  artillery. 
The  watchword  was  shouted  but  Bendix,  being 
ignorant  of  its  meaning,  continued  firing.  Town- 
send  retreated  a  short  distance  and  the  error 
was  then  discovered.  Duryea  (5th  New  York) 
and  Washburn  (ist  Vermont)  were  in  advance, 
and  hearing  the  firing  supposed  the  enemy 
were  in  their  rear,  and  at  once  fell  back.  The 
firing  had  aroused  the  enemy,  and  they  pre 
pared  for  defence  so  that  surprise  was  out  of 
the  question.  At  this  time  Pierce  sent  for  aid, 
and  the  ist  and  2nd  New  York,  under  Colonels 
Allen  and  Carr,  hurried  forward ;  the  latter  to 
await  orders  at  Newmarket  bridge. 

"Advancing  through  Little  Bethel,  which  was 


60      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

evacuated,  the  troops  under  Pierce  found  the 
Confederates  occupying  a  strong  position  near 
Big  Bethel,  with  earthworks  covering  the  bridge 
which  crossed  a  stream  running  in  front  of 
their  position.  Col.  John  B.  Magruder,  was 
in  command  here  with  three  or  four  hundred 
men  and  about  five  guns.  Duryea  moved  up 
the  road  on  the  left  of  the  woods  and  the  fight 
opened  by  the  discharge  of  a  Parrott  gun  in  the 
Confederate  works. 

"Greble  and  his  two  guns  took  position  on  the 
road  with  Bendix's  regiment  and  three  com 
panies  of  Massachusetts  troops.  Duryea  went 
through  the  orchard  and  cornfield;  Townsend 
on  his  right  and  rear.  The  Confederate  fire  was 
harmless  at  first,  but  when  the  range  was  found, 
our  troops  sought  the  shelter  of  the  woods, 
after  a  vain  attempt  to  drive  the  enemy  from  his 
works. 

"  A  short  time  after  they  sought  shelter,  about 
1 1  A.  M.,  I  arrived  with  my  regiment — a  ten-mile 
march  through  the  fearful  heat  and  dragging  a 
gun  by  hand  having  delayed  us  since  our  start 
at  7  A.M. 

"  We  were  surprised  and  puzzled  at  the  condi 
tion  of  the  troops. 

"  For  at  least  one  mile  from  the  scene  of  action 
the  officers  and  men  were  scattered,  singly  and 
in  groups,  without  form  or  organization,  looking 


RETREA T.     DEA TH  OF  GREBLE.  6  1 

far  more  like  men  enjoying  a  huge  picnic  than 
soldiers  awaiting  battle. 

"I  reported  to  Pierce,  who  consented  to  give 
me  support  for  a  charge  on  the  Confederate 
works.  Townsend  promptly  volunteered  to 
support  me  with  his  regiment,  and  started  to 
make  the  necessary  preparations. 

"  Placing  my  command  on  the  right  and  left  of 
the  road,  I  was  making  ready  for  the  charge 
when  a  message  came  from  General  Pierce, 
stating  that  after  consultation  with  his  colonels 
(Butler  says  all  of  whom  but  Duryea  voted  to 
retire)  he  found  that  troops  could  not  be  formed 
to  make  the  charge  effective,  and  that  during  the 
consultation  an  order  had  been  received  from 
General  Butler,  ordering  a  retreat,  and  I  was 
commanded  to  cover  the  retreat  about  to  com 
mence.  The  pursuit  made  by  the  Confederates 
was  easily  checked  by  the  2nd  New  York,  and 
the  men  reached  camp  without  further  mishaps. 
The  only  firing  occurring  after  12  o'clock  on 
that  day  was  from  the  gun  brought  up  by  my 
men,  and  in  command  of  Lieutenant  Greble. 

"  About  one  dozen  shots  had  been  fired  when 
Greble  was  killed. 

"The  gun  was  abandoned  on  the  field,  and 
Greble's  body  was  left  beside  it.  I  called  for 
volunteers  to  rescue  the  gun,  and  Captain  Wil 
son  and  his  company,  of  my  regiment,  re- 


62     NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

sponded,  and,  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  gallantly 
rescued  the  gun,  bringing  it  in  with  Greble's 
body  lying  on  it. 

"  Major  Winthrop's  death  during  the  early  part 
of  this  engagement  was  a  notable  event. 
Though  unattached  to  any  regiment,  he  had  vol 
unteered  for  the  expedition,  and  was  killed 
while  far  in  advance  of  the  troops  and  within 
one  hundred  yards  of  the  enemy.  Butler  arrived 
at  Hampton  Creek  to  see  the  men  coming  in, 
but  saw  no  part  of  the  fight." 

J.  Belloore  of  Richmond  wrote  to  the  editors 
of  the  Century  Magazine: 

"Major  Winthrop  headed  a  force  intending 
to  turn  our  left  flank.  On  our  left  was  a  slight 
earthwork.  About  75  yards  in  front  of  this  was 
a  rail  fence.  Our  attention  was  called  by  cheer 
ing  to  his  advance.  Looking  up,  we  saw  the 
Major  and  two  privates  on  the  fence;  his  sword 
was  drawn,  and  he  was  calling  on  his  troops  to 
follow  him.  Our  first  volley  killed  these  three ; 
those  following  being  protected  by  the  peculiar 
formation  of  the  ground  were  not  injured,  but 
upon  the  fall  of  their  leader  beat  a  precipitate 
retreat. 

"  I  was  among  the  first  to  reach  these  men. 
All  were  dead,  having  been  instantly  killed. 
Major  Winthrop  was  shot  in  the  breast,  and  the 
others  in  the  head.  About  ten  days  after,  a  flag 


FORCES  ENGAGED— LOSSES.  63 

of  truce  came  up  asking  for  Winthrop's  body. 
Having  assisted  in  burying  him  I  was  sent 
with  the  party  to  find  the  body  which  was  given 
to  his  friends." 

The  Union  forces  engaged  were:  ist  New 
York  Vols.,  Colonel  William  H.  Allen;  2nd 
New  York  Vols.,  Colonel  Joseph  B.  Carr;  3rd 
New  York  Vols.,  Colonel  Frederick  Townsend  ; 
7th  New  York  Vols.,  Colonel  John  E.  Bendix ; 
4th  Massachusetts  Vols.,  five  companies,  Major 
H.  O.  Whitlemore;  ist  Vermont  Vols.,  five 
companies,  Lieut-Colonel  Peter  T.  Washburn ; 
Regular  Artillery  (4  guns),  Lieut.  John  T. 
Greble.  Confederate  forces  were:  ist  North 
Carolina  Vols.,  Colonel  Daniel  H.  Hill;  3rd 
Virginia  Vols.,  detachment,  Lieut-Colonel 
William  D.  Stuart;  Virginia  Cavalry  Battalion, 
Major  E.  B.  Montague;  Virginia  Howitzer 
Battalion,  Major  George  W.  Randolph. 

Union  loss,  18  killed,  53  wounded,  5  missing; 
total,  76. 

Confederate  loss,  i  killed,  7  wounded;  total,  8. 

General  Pierce  in  his  report  gave  the  number 
of  casualties  from  Bendix's  fire :  2  mortally 
wounded,  3  dangerously,  4  officers,  12  privates 
slightly;  total,  21.  Magruder's  report  gives  his 
force  as  1,400  in  all  with  1,200  engaged. 

When  messengers  were  sent  to  Newport 
News  for  reinforcements,  Colonel  Phelps 


64      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS, 

issued  the  necessary  orders,  and  Colonel  Haw 
kins,  with  Companies  A,  B  and  G  of  the  "Ninth," 
at  once  hastened  to  Little  Bethel,  followed 
later  by  other  companies  of  the  regiment. 

These  detachments  arrived  on  the  field  with 
in  a  short  time  of  each  other,  and  just  as  the 
engagement  had  ended  in  a  disastrous  manner 
to  our  forces. 

In  obedience  to  orders  the  Zouaves  remained 
on  the  ground  until  all  retreating  bodies  of 
troops  had  marched  passed  them,  when  Colonel 
Hawkins  sent  out  small  detachments,  with 
orders  to  thoroughly  search  the  neighborhood, 
drive  in  all  stragglers,  and  assist  worn  out  and 
broken  down  soldiers  into  our  lines.  This  duty 
was  energetically  performed,  and  the  "  Ninth " 
acting  as  rear  guard,  covered  the  retreat  of  the 
tired  and  dispirited  forces.  After  a  march  of 
twenty-four  Virginia  miles,  over  dry  and  parched 
roads,  amidst  clouds  of  dust  so  thick  that  a 
comrade's  features  could  not  be  discerned  ten 
feet  distant;  the  regiment  reached  its  old  camp 
in  not  exactly  the  freshest  or  most  presentable 
condition. 

From  this  date  onward  the  time  was  passed 
in  drills,  scouting  duty,  picket,  guard  and  kin 
dred  duties  ;  the  boys  finding  some  little  oppor 
tunity  for  recreation,  but  beginning  to  realize 
that  the  life  of  a  soldier  was  by  no  means  a 
continuous  picnic. 


THE  FIRST  BRIGADIER.  65 

Colonel  Phelps  commanded  the  post  of  New 
port  News;  he  was  Colonel  of  the  First  Vermont 
Vols.,  but  soon  was  promoted  Brigadier-Gen 
eral.  He  was  a  resigned  regular  army  officer. 
In  personal  appearance  he  was  tall  and  thin,  and 
to  the  men  of  the  regiment — who  were  all 
young — seemed  quite  aged.  He  was  not  over 
particular  about  his  dress,  was  rather  democra 
tic  in  manner,  but  a  strict  disciplinarian.  He 
feared  no  loss  of  dignity  from  being  brought  in 
close  contact  with  his  subordinates;  was  a 
thorough  soldier,  full  of  dry  witticisms  and  blunt 
speeches,  with  considerable  biting,  yet  humor 
ous  sarcasm. 

It  is  stated  that  when  Colonel  Hawkins  first 
reported  to  him  the  regiment's  arrival,  he  in 
quired  in  his  high  pitched  voice  and  queer  Yan 
kee  drawl :  "Well,  Colonel,  what  do  you  intend 
to  do  with  these  schoolboys?"  Phelps  was  not 
long  in  discovering  that  there  was  more  in 
" these  schoolboys"  than  he  suspected;  for  their 
proficiency  in  drill  and  soldierly  conduct  pleased 
him,  and  he  very  soon  spoke  habitually  of  the 
regiment  as  his  "Little  Zouaves."  There  were, 
however,  no  favors  granted  or  expected.  He 
kept  the  regiment  at  work  constantly.  In  addi 
tion  to  the  regular  drills,  considerable  recon- 
noitering  was  deemed  necessary,  and  a  large 
share  of  this  duty  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  "Ninth." 


66     NINTH  REGIMENT,  NE  W  YORK  VOL  UNTEERS, 

Once  or  twice  each  week  some  one  of  the  com 
panies  was  sent  on  a  reconnaissance,  wrhich  famil 
iarized  both  officers  and  men  with  actual  field 
duty  and  taught  them  self-reliance. 

The  General  was  soon  christened  "  Daddy 
Phelps"  by  the  enlisted  men.  He  was  quite 
odd  in  his  manners,  but  everybody  liked  him 
and  had  entire  confidence  in  his  judgment  and 
ability.  His  queer  sayings  were  a  source  of 
continuous  amusement  in  camp,  but  when  he 
became  better  understood  his  stinging  satire 
was  dreaded  by  all.  He  frequently  set  aside 
all  conventionalities  and  managed  affairs  in  a 
way  peculiarly  his  own. 

On  one  occasion  at  a  brigade  drill,  when  the 
entire  force  of  the  post  was  in  line — six  or  seven 
regiments --a  somewhat  intricate  movement 
was  about  to  be  performed.  The  "  Ninth " 
was  on  the  left  of  the  brigade  and  was  the 
directing  regiment,  and  the  individual  whose 
duty  it  was  to  initiate  the  movement  was  the 
right  general-guide  of  that  regiment,  Sergeant 
Herbert,  of  Company  B,  who  was  rather  short 
in  stature  and  somewhat  stout.  After  the  Gen 
eral  had  carefully  explained  the  mode  of  per 
forming  the  evolution  he  gave  the  order  and 
command  "  March."  Herbert,  whose  wits  had 
been  wool-gathering,  or  who  had  been  in  a 
"  brown-study "  when  the  order  was  given, 


THE  SERGEANTS  REPRIMAND.  67 

failed  to  move,  and  as  a  consequence  the  regi 
ment  "  stood  fast  "  while  all  the  other  regiments 
moved  off.  For  an  instant  the  General  seemed 
paralyzed  with  astonishment;  the  appearance  of 
the  tall  old  man  on  the  little  sorrel  horse,  with 
the  storm  of  his  intense  indignation  gathering 
on  his  face  may  be  imagined  ;  then  leaning  for 
ward  with  an  arm  outstretched  toward  the 
offending  sergeant,  and  each  word  ejaculated 
with  such  intensity  as  apparently  to  lift  him 
clear  from  the  saddle,  he  shouted :  "  Move ! 
Move  !  For  God's  sake,  you  little  bandy-legged 
man,  Move  !  "  Herbert  moved. 

There  was  no  opportunity  for  a  laugh  then ; 
it  had  to  be  deferred  until  after  drill,  when  a 
chorus  of  five  hundred  voices  howled  in  unison, 
"  Move !  Move !  for  God's  sake,  you  little 
bandy-legged  man,  move!" 

This  incident  ruined  Herbert ;  though  a  good 
soldier,  and  later  a  lieutenant  in  the  regiment, 
he  never  could  live  it  down.  After  serving 
through  the  entire  term  he  was  mustered  out 
with  the  regiment,  then  disappeared,  and  has 
not  since  been  seen.  He  dared  not  face  the 
ridicule  of  the  "  boys." 

Another  peculiar  phase  of  Phelps'  character 
was  shown  in  the  manner  he  treated  an  attempt 
to  "  get  solid  with  the  General." 

While  the  regiment  was  at  Newport  News 


68      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

the  whole  country  in  that  vicinity  had  been  de 
serted  by  the  inhabitants.  They  evidently  were 
fearful  of  the  soldiers  and  had  departed  hur 
riedly,  in  most  instances  leaving  all  household 
property  behind  them.  Everything  in  the 
shape  of  furniture,  cooking  utensils,  etc.,  was 
left  in  the  homes  of  the  people  entirely  unpro 
tected.  In  order  to  check  vandalism  the  Gen 
eral  had  issued  strict  orders  against  foraging. 
Two  of  Company  A's  boys,  who,  like  most  of 
the  others  in  the  regiment  were  from  New  York 
City,  evidently  imagined  that  military  orders 
were  like  city  ordinances,  only  to  be  observed 
by  those  who  had  no  "  pull."  They  proceeded 
at  once  to  get  their  "  pull "  by  cooking  to  a 
turn  a  foraged  turkey,  and  nicely  arranging  it 
on  a  foraged  china  platter,  with  which  they 
marched  up  to  headquarters  to  present  it  to  the 
General.  At  the  moment  he  was  not  present, 
but  the  platter  and  contents  were  received  by 
the  orderly,  who  was  strictly  enjoined  to  inform 
the  General  whence  it  came.  When  the  Gen 
eral  returned  and  his  eye  fell  on  the  well- 
cooked  turkey  and  the  china  platter,  he  ex 
claimed,  "  Well !  Well  !  How  nice  !  That  is 
really  thoughtful  !  Orderly,  where  did  that 
come  from  ?  "  Saluting,  the  orderly  replied : 
"  Two  men  of  Company  A,  of  the  Zouaves,  sent 
it  to  you  with  their  compliments,  Sir."  "  My, 


"WORKING  A  PULL  "   WITH  THE  "OLD  MAN."      69 

My! "  said  the  General,  "  how  very  kind  and 
thoughtful.  Orderly,  go  with  the  corporal  of 
the  guard,  point  out  the  men,  and  have  them 
brought  here."  The  men  were  very  much 
elated  when  told  the  General  desired  to  see 
them,  and  started  with  alacrity,  doubtless  think 
ing  the  interview  would  result  in  an  invitation 
to  dine  with  the  "  old  man." 

What  actually  occurred  was  about  as  follows  : 

Corporal — "  General,  these  are  the  men  the 
orderly  said  you  wanted." 

General  (to  men) — "  Did  you  bring  these 
things  here  ?  " 

Men  (in  chorus,  promptly) — "  Yes,  sir." 

General — "  That's  the  way  you  obey  my 
orders  against  foraging,  is  it  ?  Corporal,  take 
them  to  the  guard-house  !  " 

The  two  crestfallen  Zouaves  and  the  grinning 
corporal  marched  away,  and  history  does  not 
record  whether  the  General  ate  the  turkey  or 
not. 

This  lesson  may  not  have  stopped  foraging 
in  the  Ninth  Regiment  but  it  effectually  ended 
all  attempts  to  make  General  Phelps  an  acces 
sory. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

RECONNAISSANCE  BY  COMPANIES  A  AND  F  — 
SKIRMISH  WITH  THE  ENEMY  -  -  TROUBLE 
ABOUT  THE  RELATIVE  RANK  OF  OFFICERS 
—DECIDED  BY  DRAWING  LOTS  -  -  GENERAL 
BUTLER  SUPERSEDED  BY  GENERAL  WOOL- 
SPECIAL  ORDER  FOR  EXPEDITION  TO  HAT- 

TERAS    INLET THREE    COMPANIES    OF    THE 

NINTH    JOIN    EXPEDITION  -  -  ARRIVAL    OFF 
HATTERAS — BOMBARDMENT      OF       FORTS- 
SURRENDER  AMOUNT       OF       MATERIAL 
CAPTURED. 

WHILE  the  regular  drills,  parades,  and 
other  ordinary  routine  duties  of  camp 
life  continued,  the  task  of  reconnoitering  the 
adjacent  country  by  companies,  or  smaller  de 
tachments,  was  performed  at  regular  intervals. 

The  immediate  vicinity  was  occupied  by  the 
enemy,  and  it  called  for  extreme  alertness  and 
watchfulness  to  guard  against  surprise  and  keep 
informed  of  his  movements. 

On  June  29,  1861,  Company  A,  Captain 
Graham,  was  sent  out  to  reconnoiter,  as  was 
usual.  While  moving  along  the  road  some  dis- 


RECONNAISSANCES  B  Y  COMPANIES.  7 1 

tance  from  camp  the  company  suddenly  came 
upon  two  Confederate  soldiers,  evidently  on 
scouting  duty.  They  were  gathered  in  and 
taken  before  the  Colonel.  They  were  dressed 
in  a  uniform  very  similar  to  that  worn  by 
the  5th  N.  Y.  (Duryea's),  and  they  informed 
their  captors  that  the  name  of  their  organization 
was  the  "  Louisiana  Tigers."  The  condition  of 
their  clothing  was  such  that  it  was  removed 
and  burned  as  a  matter  of  self  defense. 

But  there  were  sometimes  losses  as  well  as 
captures.  A  certain  regiment  at  the  post  had 
frequently  reported  losses  from  its  companies 
while  they  were  on  reconnoitering  duty.  Colonel 
Phelps  finally  sent  for  the  colonel  of  this 
regiment  and  questioned  him  as  to  the  cause, 
remarking  that  while  his  regiment  reported 
losses,  the  Ninth  seldom  went  out  without 
bringing  in  prisoners.  The  Colonel  could  not 
explain  this,  but  the  losses  from  this  time  were 
less  numerous. 

Another  reconnaissance  was  made  shortly 
after  that  of  Company  A,  which  brought  the 
men  to  a  stern  realization  of  actual  warfare  and 
the  duty  of  a  soldier  in  the  presence  of  the 
enemy.  This  was  conducted  by  Captain  Ham- 
mill  and  his  Company,  F. 

Starting  out  on  the  evening  of  July  3d,  they 
bivouacked  for  the  night  some  distance  from 


72      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

camp,  and  by  daybreak  the  next  morning  were 
on  the  road.  After  marching  a  short  distance 
they  suddenly  came  upon  a  force  of  the  enemy 
-  principally  infantry,  some  cavalry,  and  at 
least  one  piece  of  artillery — which  was  appar 
ently  on  an  expedition  similar  to  that  in  which 
they  themselves  were  engaged.  This  force  was 
still  in  camp  with  no  pickets  posted,  and  if  there 
was  a  guard  at  all  it  was  simply  a  camp  guard. 
A  lively  skirmish  at  once  developed.  The 
rebels  were  thrown  into  confusion  as  soon  as 
the  attack  was  made,  while  the  men  of  Company 
F  were  alert,  paying  close  attention  to  com 
mands  and  attending  strictly  to  the  business  in 
hand.  Some  of  the  enemy  evidently  supposed 
the  attack  came  from  another  party  of  their  own 
men,  as  there  were  shouts  of  "  Washington ! 
Washington  !"  "Arlington  !  Arlington!"  probably 
the  parole  and  countersign,  and  cries  of  "  Cease 
firing !"  The  cavalrymen  rushed  for  their  horses, 
mounted,  and  in  wild  confusion  rode  through 
their  camp  and  over  their  own  infantry,  who 
held  their  ground  for  a  few  moments  only,  then 
broke  and  fled.  There  were  no  casualties  to 
report  in  Company  F,  but  later  it  was  learned 
from  an  item  in  a  Richmond,  Va.,  newspaper, 
which  reached  the  Union  camps,  that  the  enemy 
lost  in  the  affair  a  Colonel  Dreux,  of  Louisiana, 
and  one  captain  killed,  and  seven  or  eight  pri 
vates  wounded. 


COMPANY  A'S  PLIGHT.  73 

The  Zouaves  returned  to  camp  without  further 
adventure. 

On  another  occasion  (July  8th)  Company  A 
was  sent  to  reconnoiter.  The  command  left 
camp  late  one  afternoon,  was  on  the  march  all 
night  in  various  directions,  and  just  after  sun 
rise  on  the  following  morning,  encountered  the 
enemy's  pickets  near  Warwick  Court  House. 
These  fell  back  after  exchanging  a  few  shots 
with  the  advancing  Zouaves.  The  main  body 
of  the  detachment,  while  looking  for  some 
demonstration  in  the  direction  of  the  retreating 
rebel  picket,  were  about  to  fall  back  leisurely, 
feeling  that  the  object  of  the  expedition  had  been 
accomplished  —  locating  the  position  of  the 
enemy — when  they  suddenly  became  aware 
that  a  large  cavalry  detachment  of  the  enemy 
was  advancing  rapidly  in  their  direction.  These 
troops  were  followed  by  what  appeared  to  be  at 
least  a  regiment  of  infantry,  which  was  rather 
an  unexpected  stirring  up  of  a  hornet's  nest. 
Nothing  remained  but  to  seek  the  cover  of  the 
woods  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  distant.  Being 
outnumbered  ten  to  one  an  engagement  was 
considered  foolhardy.  The  alternative  was  a 
precipitate  retreat  with  the  certainty  of  a  good 
run  at  first,  and  the  probability  of  an  ultimate 
surrender.  While  double  quicking  for  shelter 
a  bright  idea  occurred  to  the  captain,  and  he 


74      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

ordered  the  bugler  to  sound,  "Rally  on  the  Re 
serve."  At  that  time  both  armies  used  the 
bugle  and  drum  calls  of  the  old  U.  S.  Army,  and 
the  rebels  recognizing  the  call,  halted,  adjusted 
their  infantry  line,  and  dismounted  their  cavalry. 

By  this  time  the  Zouaves  had  gained  the 
woods,  and  after  proceeding  a  short  distance 
therein  were  halted,  formed  into  rather  a  close 
skirmish  line,  took  position  behind  trees  and 
stumps,  and  prepared  to  offer  such  resistance 
as  they  could  to  the  advancing  enemy.  Soon 
the  snapping  of  twigs  and  dry  branches  under 
the  feet  of  the  advancing  skirmishers  was  heard, 
but  instead  of  directly  approaching  the  position 
where  the  company  was  concealed  and  awaiting 
them,  they  moved  diagonally  toward  the  left  of 
the  line,  advancing  at  an  angle  of  about  forty- 
five  degrees  to  the  company  front,  passing  its 
left  flank,  and  disappearing  in  the  woods  to  its 
left  and  rear. 

This  discretionary  ruse  of  the  commanding 
officer  in  ordering  his  bugler  to  sound  the 
call  for  rallying  on  the  reserves,  showed  the 
quick  wit  and  good  sense  for  which  he  was 
noted.  The  foolhardiness  of  attempting  de 
fense  against  so  overwhelming  a  body  of  the 
enemy  was  apparent  to  everyone.  Had  they 
been  captured,  either  with  or  without  resistance, 
they  would  have  been  certain  of  a  more  or  less 


TROUBLE  ABOUT  RANK  OF  OFFICERS.  75 

protracted  stay  in  Richmond ;  and  while  that 
city  was  the  admitted  objective  point  of  every 
Union  soldier  in  Virginia,  no  one  cared  to  visit 
it  as  a  prisoner. 

After  the  enemy  had  disappeared  from  view, 
the  company  was  re-formed,  moved  still  farther 
into  the  woods,  but  in  the  direction  of  the 
rebel  territory,  where  a  halt  was  ordered,  rations 
eaten,  and  the  men,  with  the  exception  of  the 
guard,  permitted  to  have  an  hour  or  two  of 
sleep ;  after  which  a  bold  push  was  made  for  the 
James  River,  where,  in  case  of  attack,  the  atten 
tion  of  the  gunboats  could  be  attracted  and 
assistance  secured  with  little  delay.  Much  to 
the  relief  of  the  men  of  the  company  the  enemy 
was  not  again  seen,  and  after  an  exciting  day 
and  a  long  march  the  detachment  returned  to 
camp  at  Newport  News  with  no  casualties  to 
report,  but  thoroughly  tired. 

While  at  Newport  News  an  unpleasant 
incident  occurred,  which  for  a  time  threatened 
to  disturb  the  harmonious  relations  among  the 
line  officers. 

As  before  stated,  the  commissioned  officers 
in  the  companies  organized  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  were  chosen  from  the  old  corps — the 
"New  York  Zouaves" — and  their  positions  in 
line  apportioned  by  mutual  arrangement;  and 
when  Captain  Jardine's  company  joined  the 


76     NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS, 

regiment  at  Castle  Garden,  he  became  in  fact 
the  junior  captain,  though  all  the  officers  were 
mustered  into  the  United  States  service  on  the 
same  day.  The  question  of  seniority  had  been 
definitely  agreed  upon.  However,  at  Newport 
News,  Jardine  determined  to  raise  the  question 
and  have  it  officially  settled.  In  some  manner 
the  belief  had  gained  currency  that  the  drawing 
of  lots  by  the  disputants  was  the  proper  mode  of 
determining  seniority  where  commissions  bore 
the  same  date,  and  when  none  of  the  officers 
involved  had  seen  former  service. 

General  Phelps  was  waited  upon  by  a  com 
mittee  of  three  captains,  but  declined  to  interfere 
officially;  simply  observing:  "There  should  be 
no  difficulty  among  gentlemen  in  deciding  the 
question  of  rank."  Jardine,  however,  insisted 
upon  drawing  lots,  and  the  other  captains 
agreed  to  the  idea,  believing  it  to  be  customary. 
As  each  captain,  except  Jardine,  was  satisfied 
with  the  rank  he  then  held,  it  was  agreed  that 
he,  Jardine,  alone  should  draw  the  lot.  He 
being  junior  captain  was  in  any  event  certain 
of  being  benefitted  by  the  change. 

There  were  ten  slips  of  paper  placed  in  a  hat, 
each  slip  bearing  a  number  from  i  to  10.  It 
was  agreed  that  Jardine  was  to  draw  from  the 
hat  one  of  these  slips,  and  the  number  appear 
ing  on  it  should  entitle  him  to  hold  the  corre- 


THE  QUEER  DRA  WING  OF  LOTS.  77 

spending  rank  among  the  ten  captains ;  the 
captain  so  displaced  should  take  the  rank  pre 
viously  held  by  Jardine  —  the  junior  rank.  Jar- 
dine  thrust  in  his  hand  and  drew  a  slip  which 
bore  the  figure  one.  This  relegated  Graham  to 
the  position  of  junior,  his  lieutenants  occupying 
a  similar  rank,  while  Jardine's  were  correspond 
ingly  advanced. 

Considerable  ill-feeling  was  for  a  time  felt 
and  displayed ;  the  condition  being  such  that 
Graham  could  have  insisted  on  drawing  also, 
but  he  preferred  to  let  the  matter  drop. 

A  strong  belief  in  the  unfairness  of  the  draw 
ing  was  afterward  created  in  the  minds  of 
some  of  the  officers  by  a  remark  of  a  lieutenant 
of  the  regiment,  viz.:  "  Not  one  of  those  captains 
had  sense  enough  to  grab  one  of  those  slips  out 
of  the  hat  and  see  if  there  was  any  other  num 
ber  than  *  one  '  marked  upon  it." 

On  August  i yth  Major-General  John  E.  Wool 
superseded  General  Butler  in  command  of  the 
department;  the  latter  being  placed  in  com 
mand  of  all  the  troops  in  the  department  ex 
cept  the  regulars. 

General  Butler  had  for  some  time  been  aware 
of  the  building  of  the  Confederate  forts  Clark 
and  Hatteras,  designed  by  the  Confederate 
Government  to  secure  to  themselves  the  con 
trol  of  Hatteras  Inlet.  Having  learned  through 


78      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

some  loyal  North  Carolinians,  who  for  weeks 
had  worked  in  the  forts,  of  the  progess  made, 
Butler,  knowing  their  great  importance,  deter 
mined  their  capture  if  possible.  After  inform 
ing  General  Wool  of  the  situation  at  Hatteras, 
and  explaining  his  plans  for  the  capture  of  the 
forts,  without  calling  upon  General  Scott  for 
extra  troops,  the  following  order  was  drawn  up 
and  signed : 

HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OF  VIRGINIA, 

FORTRESS  MONROE,  VA.,  Aug.  25,  1861. 
SPECIAL  ORDER  No.  13. 

Major-General  Butler  will  prepare  eight  hun'dred  and  sixty  troops  for 
an  expedition  to  Hatteras  Inlet,  North  Carolina,  to  go  with  Commodore 
Stringham,  commanding  home  squadron,  to  capture  several  batteries 
in  that  neighborhood. 

The  troops  will  be  as  follows:  Two  hundred  men  from  Camp  Butler 
and  six  hundred  from  Camp  Hamilton,  with  a  suitable  number  of  com 
missioned  officers,  and  one  Company,  "B"  of  the  Second  Artillery  from 
Fortress  Monroe. 

They  will  be  provided  with  ten  days'  rations  and  water  and  one 
hundred  and  forty  rounds  of  ammunition.  General  Butler  will  report 
as  soon  as  he  has  his  troops  prepared,  to  Flag-Officer  Stringham,  and  he 
will  be  ready  to  embark  at  one  o'clock  to-morrow.  As  soon  as  the 
object  of  the  expedition  is  attained  the  detachment  will  return  to 
Fortress  Monroe. 

Captain  Tallmadge,  chief  quartermaster,  will  provide  a  detachment 
of  eight  hundred  and  sixty  men,  for  the  expedition  to  Hatteras  Inlet, 
with  a  suitable  quantity  of  water  for  ten  days'  consumption,  and  the 
chief  commissary  of  subsistence,  Captain  Taylor,  will  provide  it  with 
rations  for  the  same  length  of  time.  These  officers  will  report  the  exe 
cution  of  these  orders  by  ten  o'clock  to-morrow  if  possible. 
By  command  of  Major-General  Wool. 

C.  C.  CHURCHILL, 
First  Lieutenant,  Third  Artillery, 

Act.  Asst.  Adjt.-Gen. 

These   forts   which   the   expedition   was   in 
tended   to   capture   were   located    at    Hatteras 


THE  EXPEDITION  TO  HATTER  AS  INLET.  79 

Inlet,  on  the  "  banks,"  about  nine  miles  south 
of  the  Cape.  The  Inlet  was  the  principal  navi 
gable  entrance  from  the  ocean  to  interior  North 
Carolina  waters,  and  through  it  and  Ocracoke 
Inlet,  all  the  commerce  of  Newbern,  Plymouth, 
Washington,  and  many  other  ports  on  Pamlico 
and  Albemarle  Sounds  and  adjacent  rivers,  was 
obliged  to  pass.  It  was  a  point  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  the  Confederate  Government  to 
retain  control  of  this  waterway. 

Companies  C,  G  and  H  of  the  Ninth  Regi 
ment,  under  command  of  Colonel  Hawkins, 
were  assigned  to  the  expedition.  They  em 
barked  on  the  steamer  " Adelaide"  August  26, 
and  joining  the  fleet,  set  sail,  arriving  off  Hat- 
teras  on  the  forenoon  of  the  27th,  where  they 
"lay  to  "  until  the  next  day. 

The  landing  of  the  men  from  the  transports 
was  attempted  before  daybreak  on  the  morning 
of  the  28th,  but  owing  to  the  extremely  heavy 
surf  and  rapid  and  dangerous  currents,  which 
nearly  always  prevail  at  this  exposed  point  of 
the  coast,  but  345  men  in  all  succeeded  in  reach 
ing  the  shore.  These  belonged  principally  to 
Company  G  of  the  Ninth  and  to  the  2oth  New 
York.  Some  half  dozen  men  only  of  Companies 
C  and  H  succeeded  in  landing  with  the  others. 
Many  of  the  boats  were  swamped  or  water 
logged,  and  the  energies  of  Colonel  Hawkins 


8O      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

and  Lieutenant  Crosby,  of  the  Navy,  were  di 
rected  toward  the  dangerous  and  difficult  under 
taking  of  saving  the  lives  of  the  occupants. 
The  disembarkation  proving  to  be  impracticable, 
any  further  attempt  to  land  the  troops  was  now 
abandoned. 

Company  G,  Captain  Jardine,  had  succeeded 
in  landing  at  a  point  about  two  miles  up  the 
coast  from  Fort  Clark,  where  they  were  hidden 
from  the  view  of  the  garrison  by  a  range  of 
sand  hills.  The  company  gained  the  beach 
through  the  heavy  surf  with  great  difficulty  and 
danger,  but  happily  without  loss  of  life.  The 
landing  was  covered  by  the  guns  of  the  "  Mon- 
ticello "  and  "  Harriet  Lane,"  which  threw  a 
constant  stream  of  shell  into  the  low  shrubbery 
on  the  Pamlico  shore,  driving  the  enemy  out 
and  preventing  him  from  attacking  the  small 
force  which  had  landed. 

In  the  meantime  the  fleet  under  orders  of 
Commodore  Stringham  had  been  hotly  engag 
ing  the  forts.  The  Commodore  adopted  a 
system  of  attack  peculiarly  his  own.  Con 
stantly  moving  his  vessels  in  a  circle  he  dis 
charged  his  broadsides  while  abreast  of  the  forts; 
then  quickly  swinging  around  he  returned  on 
the  other  side  of  the  circle  out  of  range  of  the 
fire  from  the  forts.  Each  vessel  imitated  the 
action  of  the  flagship,  thus  making  it  very  diffi- 


THE  ARMY  OF  OCCUPA  TION.  8 1 

cult  for  the  artillerists  in  the  forts  to  train  their 
heavy  guns  with  accuracy  on  a  ship  in  continu 
ous  motion. 

The  movement  was  afterward  employed  with 
great  success  by  Dupont  in  his  bombardment 
of  Forts  Walker  and  Beauregard. 

Stringham  never  received  the  credit  which 
was  his  due,  and  soon  after  the  surrender  of 
the  forts,  was,  for  some  mysterious  reason,  rele 
gated  to  the  Charleston  Navy  Yard  to  supervise 
repairs  to  old  hulks,  and  never  again  occupied 
a  prominent  place  during  the  Rebellion. 

Captain  Jardine  assumed  command  of  the 
force  which  had  landed,  but  was  not  sufficiently 
strong  to  justify  an  attack,  and  he  disposed  of  it 
behind  the  sand  hills  in  the  most  effective  man 
ner  possible.  The  weather  becoming  threaten 
ing,  the  Commodore  stood  out  to  sea  for  safety, 
leaving  the  "  Army  of  Occupation"  in  a  most 
precarious  and  uncertain  position  when  night 
closed  in.  Fortunately  the  enemy  left  them 
unmolested. 

The  weather  having  moderated  in  the  morn 
ing,  the  fleet  returned  and  at  eight  o'clock  re 
sumed  the  bombardment.  As  seen  by  the  troops 
on  the  transports — none  of  whom  had  ever  seen 
such  an  imposing  sight — it  was  an  interesting, 
novel  and  exciting  scene.  Company  G,  having 
been  well  closed  in  on  the  fort,  was  in  more 


82      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

danger  from  the  fire  of  its  friends  than  from 
that  of  the  enemy. 

During  the  forenoon  the  Confederates  capitu 
lated,  and  at  a  most  fortunate  juncture;  for, 
while  the  articles  of  capitulation  were  under 
consideration  the  "Adelaide,"  loaded  with 
troops,  grounded  for  a  while  on  the  bar,  while 
the  "  Harriet  Lane  "  also  grounded  and  remained 
fast,  and  as  both  vessels  were  within  range  of  the 
guns  of  the  fort  it  was  a  moment  of  great 
anxiety. 

The  surrender  of  these  forts  was  the  first  great 
success  of  the  war  thus  far  and  caused  much  re 
joicing  at  the  North.  The  captures  were:  715 
prisoners,  1 ,000  stand  of  arms,  30  pieces  of  cannon  9 
one  ten-inch  columbiad,  a  brig  loaded  with 
cotton,  a  sloop  loaded  with  provisions  and 
stores,  two  lightships,  a  schooner  in  ballast,  five 
stand  of  colors,  and  150  bags  of  coffee,  all 
without  loss  of  life  on  the  Union  side. 

General  Butler  in  his  official  report  says:  "I 
desire  to  commend  to  your  attention  Captain 
Jardine,  of  the  gth  New  York,  who  was  left  in 
command  of  the  detachment  of  his  regiment, 
when  an  accident  to  the  *  Harriet  Lane '  prevent 
ed  Colonel  Hawkins  from  landing."  Jardine  had 
with  him  sixty-eight  men. 

The  forts  were  under  the  command  of  Flag- 
Officer  Samuel  Barron,  C.  S.  N.,  formerly  an 


IMAGINARY  WAR  AND  REAL   WAR.  83 

officer  in  the  U.  S.  Navy :  the  garrison  being 
composed  largely  of  raw,  undisciplined  recruits 
who  had  never  been  in  action,  but  who  doubt 
less  were  inspirited  by  the  universal  opinion 
then  indulged  in  by  the  South,  that  "one 
Southerner  was  the  equivalent  of  five  Yankees, 
or  mudsills." 

This  ignorant  confidence,  and  contempt  for 
Northern  people,  caused  them  to  fall  into  the 
common  impression  held  by  people  generally 
who  had  never  been  in  action,  which  is,  that  war 
consists  in  shooting  at  and  killing  "  the  other 
fellow;"  therefore,  when  the  "other  fellow"  began 
to  shoot  and  to  kill  also,  the  whole  transaction 
assumed  an  entirely  different  phase  to  them, 
and  they  lost  any  interest  they  might  at  first 
have  had  in  the  action  and  were  ready  to  quit — 
which  they  did. 

On  Sept.  gth,  1861,  General  Wool,  wrote 
General  Scott:  "I  shall  detail  a  company  of  regu 
lars  and  send  forward  the  balance  (seven  com 
panies)  of  Hawkins'  regiment,  recalling  Max 
Weber's  German  regiment,  much  complained  of 
by  the  inhabitants  for  depredations  and  various 
outrages  upon  them." 


CHAPTER  V. 

COLONEL  HAWKINS  ASSUMES  COMMAND  OF  POST— COR 
RESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  COLONEL  HAWKINS  AND 
GENERAL  WOOL— EXPEDITION  TO  BEACON  ISLAND— 
LIEUT.-COLONEL  BETTS  AND  FIVE  COMPANIES 
REJOIN  REGIMENT  —  SURRENDER  OF  GUNBOAT 
"FANNIE"  — ATTACK  ON  20TH  INDIANA  — GENERAL 
WILLIAMS  SUPERSEDES  COLONEL  HAWKINS— CON 
STRUCTION  OF  NEW  FORTS— ANTIPATHY  OF  MEN 
TO  WILLIAMS— BOYS  "SCOUTING"  FOR  FRESH  PORK 
SERIOUSLY  ALARM  THE  GENERAL  —  HAWKINS  DIS 
PLEASED,  WRITES  GENERAL  WOOL  —  MAJOR  KIM- 
BALL  AND  TWO  COMPANIES  ARRIVE  FROM  NEW 
PORT  NEWS— ARRIVAL  OF  BURNSIDE  EXPEDITION- 
ALL  READY  FOR  ROANOKE  ISLAND— RATIONS  FROM 
THE  SEA  —  WINE  LABELS  PASSED  AS  CURRENCY- 
ROBBING  POTATO  HOUSES. 

BY  virtue  of  rank,  Colonel  Hawkins  assumed 
command  of  the  land  forces  at  Hatteras 
on  August  soth,  making  his  headquarters  at 
Fort  Clark,  while  Colonel  Max  Weber,  with 
part  of  the  2Oth  New  York,  was  stationed  at 
Fort  Hatteras. 

Instead  of  following  instructions  from  Wash 
ington  to  close  Hatteras  Inlet  by  sinking  two 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  GENERAL   WOOL.          85 

schooners  loaded  with  sand  which  were  with 
the  fleet  for  that  purpose,  General  Butler  de 
cided  to  disobey  orders,  and  after  the  surrender 
at  once  sailed  for  Washington  to  report  the 
result  of  the  expedition  and  explain  his  reasons 
for  not  closing  the  Inlet  as  directed.  His 
action  was  sustained.  Had  it  been  otherwise 
Burnside's  expedition  would  never  have  been 
organized. 

Early  in  September  Colonel  Hawkins  wrote 
General  Wool  a  voluminous  letter,  setting  forth 
the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  new  department 
and  making  numerous  suggestions  as  to  the 
future  operations  he  deemed  necessary,  among 
others  that  Roanoke  Island  should  be  at  once 
occupied,  it  being  then  held  by  the  enemy,  and 
urging  General  Wool  to  impress  upon  the 
Government  "  the  importance  and  necessity  of 
immediate  action  in  this  department,"  the 
wisdom  of  this  being  justified  later  by  Burn- 
side's  departure  for  that  strategic  point. 

Among  the  communications  and  documents 
transmitted  to  the  authorities  by  the  Colonel 
about  this  time  were  the  following,  which  may 
be  of  interest: 

FORT  CLARK,  HATTERAS  INLET,  Sept.  6,  1861. 

MAJOR-GENERAL  JOHN  E.  WOOL, 

Commanding  Department  of  Virginia,  Fortress  Monroe,  Va. 
GENERAL: — On  the  soth  day  of  August  I  landed  from  the  fleet  and 
took  command  of  Fort  Clark,  where  I  still  remain  with  the  companies 
which  I  brought  with  me  from  Newport  News.     During  the  afternoon 


86      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

of  the  3oth  ult. ,  a  delegation  on  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  this  island 
waited  on  me  and  placed  in  my  hands  a  paper,  a  copy  of  which  is  here 
with  inclosed,  and  marked  "A,"  and  is  as  follows: 

To  THE  COMMANDER  OF  THE  FEDERAL  FORCES  AT  HATTER  AS  INLET: 

DEAR  SIR: — We,  the  citizens  of  Cape  Hatteras,  do  ask  of  your  honor 
that  you  will  allow  us  to  return  to  our  homes  and  property,  and  protect 
us  in  the  same  as  neutral  citizens,  as  we  have  never  taken  up  arms 
against  your  government,  nor  has  it  been  our  wish  to  do  so.  We  did 
not  help  by  our  votes  to  get  North  Carolina  out  of  the  Union.  Believing 
that  your  clemency  will  not  allow  you  to  treat  us  as  rebels,  who  have 
always  been  loyal  citizens,  we  do  earnestly  request,  for  the  sake  of  our 
women  and  children,  that  you  will  comply  with  our  wishes,  as  we  seek 
protection  from  your  honor. 

Yours  very  respectfully, 

CITIZENS  OF  HATTERAS. 

In  answer  to  this  communication  I  requested  that  as  many  citizens  as 
could  might  meet  me  next  day  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  terms  by 
which  they  would  be  permitted  to  remain  here.  Agreeably  to  the 
request  about  thirty  men  came  to  see  me.  The  terms  were  contained 
in  an  oath,  a  copy  of  which  is  here  transmitted,  and  marked  "B"  as 
follows : 

STATE  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA,  HYDE  COUNTY. 

We,  the  undersigned,  do  solemnly  swear  that  we  will  bear  true 
allegiance  to  the  United  States;  that  we  will  not  take  up  arms  against 
said  Government,  or  hold  any  communication  with  its  enemies,  or  aid 
or  comfort  its  enemies  in  any  way  whatever;  that  we  will  give  to  the 
commander  of  Fort  Clark  any  information  we  may  obtain  or  receive 
of  the  approach  of  the  enemy;  and  in  case  we  are  called  upon,  we  will 
assist  the  commandant  of  said  fort  in  his  defense  thereof  against  any 
and  all  of  the  enemies  of  the  United  States;  and  we  will  also,  under 
any  and  all  circumstances,  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

Practically  every  male  inhabitant  of  that 
portion  of  the  "banks"  which  came  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  officers  sub 
scribed  to  this  oath  and  the  relations  between 
them  and  the  soldiers  were  soon  established  on 
a  friendly  basis.  Nothing  occurred  while  the 
Ninth  remained  in  the  vicinity  to  excite  a 


HA  TTERAS  BANKS  IN  1861.  87 

suspicion  that  they  were  other  than  loyal 
Unionists. 

Hatteras  Banks,  on  which  the  regiment  now 
found  itself  established,  is  a  section  of  that 
series  of  long  narrow  islands  which  stretch 
like  a  barrier  reef  along  the  Atlantic  coast  from 
Cape  May  to  the  southern  point  of  Florida. 
At  Hatteras  Inlet  it  is  said  to  be  distant  from 
the  main  land  of  North  Carolina,  Pamlico 
Sound  intervening,  fully  forty  miles.  This 
storm-beaten  and  desolate  strip  of  sand,  so  far 
out  to  sea,  would  seem  to  be  as  uninviting  and 
inhospitable  a  spot  as  human  beings  could  well 
choose  for  abiding  places.  Yet  within  the 
territory  controlled  by  the  troops  whose  head 
quarters  were  at  the  Inlet,  some  scores  of  fami 
lies  had  voluntarily,  it  must  be  presumed, 
located  themselves  and  made  their  homes. 

The  island  varied  greatly  in  width.  At  some 
places  it  was  several  miles  between  sea  and 
sound,  while  at  other  points  less  than  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  separated  them.  Some  portions  were 
simply  a  wilderness  of  desolate  sand  dunes, 
some  of  which,  however,  nearly  reached  the 
dignity  of  hills  in  size,  with  here  and  there,  in 
the  lower  places,  a  few  stunted  live  oaks  scat 
tered  about  singly  or  in  little  bunches  of  thicket. 
In  the  wider  parts  of  the  "  banks "  where  the 
land  was  not  so  much  at  sea  as  it  were,  there 


88      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

were  forests  of  considerable  extent  of  good 
sized  pines  with  occasionally  trees  of  other  va 
rieties.  Here  and  there  where  a  little  soil  had 
formed  from  the  fallen  leaves  of  many  seasons 
and  from  the  decayed  wood  of  the  fallen  trees, 
the  natives  had  located  and  built  their  houses. 
The  little  enclosures  of  fertile  soil  nearby  they 
called  "The  Plantation."  The  houses  of  the 
inhabitants  were  generally  of  good  size,  well 
built  and  comfortable,  and  compared  favorably 
with  the  average  southern  farm  house  as  found 
in  more  favored  localities. 

At  several  points  within  the  limits  of  occupa 
tion  there  were  level  plains  of  sand  \vhich  ex 
tended  from  the  sea  to  the  sound,  varying  in 
width  from  two  or  three  hundred  yards  to  a 
half  mile  or  more,  with  neither  tree,  shrub  nor 
hillock  to  break  the  general  level,  and  elevated 
only  a  few  feet  above  the  reach  of  the  tides. 
These  were  known  to  the  inhabitants,  and  soon 
to  the  soldiers  also,  as  "bald  beaches."  Their 
origin  or  cause  was  the  source  of  considerable 
speculation  among  such  of  the  boys  as  cared  to 
waste  their  gray  matter  in  attempts  to  solve 
such  questions.  The  conclusion  arrived  at  was 
that  they  had  been  caused  by  the  passage  of 
sand  hills  which,  at  a  more  or  less  remote  period, 
had  moved  across  the  island,  probably  from  the 
side  toward  the  ocean,  and  had  finally  buried 
themselves  in  the  waters  of  the  sound. 


THE  MOVING  SAND  HILLS.  89 

In  more  than  one  locality  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  camps  this  action,  or  phenomena,  was  still 
apparent.  The  sand  cast  up  by  the  action  of 
the  sea  dried  in  the  sun  and  breeze  and  drifting 
before  the  prevailing  wind,  being  sheltered  from 
counter-currents  by  the  thick  foliage  of  the 
pines,  formed  drifts  which  constantly  grew  in 
breadth  and  height  by  the  ceaseless  moving  of 
the  dry  surface  sand  up  the  windward  slope  of 
the  growing  hill.  The  eddy  formed  between 
the  crest  of  the  drift  and  the  opposing  wall  of 
trees  prevented  any  forward  movement  of  the 
mass  until  the  heighth  gained  by  it  was  equal 
to  that  of  the  woods  in  front,  when,  there  being 
no  longer  an  eddy  in  the  wind  to  retard  the 
forward  movement,  the  advance  began.  This 
was  slow  but  irresistible.  Everything  in  its 
track  was  overwhelmed.  Houses,  trees,  culti 
vated  land,  all  disappeared  before  the  onward 
march  of  this  silent  enemy.  After  it  had 
passed  its  tract  was  desolation,  and  this  was 
the  "bald  beach." 

On  September  1 6th  a  detachment  of  the  Union 
Coast  Guard,  under  command  of  Lieutenants 
Rowe  and  Patten,  with  part  of  the  crew  of  the 
"  Pawnee,"  embarked  on  the  steamer  "  Fanny," 
and  sailed  for  Beacon  Island,  where  they  dis 
covered  a  large  battery  mounting  twenty-two 
guns,  four  of  which  had  been  removed  the  pre- 


90     NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

vious  day  to  Newberne.  The  guns  were  de 
stroyed,  bomb-proofs  demolished,  woodwork 
of  battery  and  large  piles  of  lumber  burned.  A 
lightship  towed  from  its  moorings  by  the  rebels 
was  also  destroyed  by  fire,  and  a  quantity  of 
ammunition  secured,  some  eighty  shells  being 
carried  away  from  the  island. 

On  the  loth  of  September  five  companies  of 
the  regiment  left  Newport  News  with  Lieuten 
ant  Colonel  Betts,  landing  at  Hatteras  the  next 
day,  when  he  was  directed  by  Colonel  Hawkins 
to  camp  about  two  miles  up  the  island  on  the 
shore  of  Pamlico  Sound.  The  location  was 
named  Camp  Wool. 

These  men  brought  a  story  of  a  naval  fight  in 
the  James  River,  between  the  fleet,  near  the 
camp  at  Newport  News,  and  a  rebel  gunboat 
which  came  out  of  Norfolk  Harbor  one  day. 
This  boat  was  armed  with  a  gun  of  such  a  long 
range  that  she  was  able  to  keep  outside  of  the 
range  of  the  guns  of  the  Union  fleet  and  pepper 
them  at  her  leisure.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
little  rebel  gunboat,  with  only  one  gun  in  action^ 
held  the  fleet  at  her  mercy.  It  was  only  a 
question  of  marksmanship  how  soon  she  would 
sink  one  or  more  of  them. 

While  the  soldiers  were  watching  the  firing,  a 
boat  arrived  from  one  of  the  naval  vessels.  The 
officer  in  charge  requested  the  first  man  he  met, 


NAVAL  FIGHT  AT  NEWPORT  NEWS.  91 

Jerry  Donovan,  of  Company  A  of  the  Ninth,  to 
conduct  him  to  General  Phelps'  headquarters. 
They  found  the  General  watching  the  one-sided 
fight  from  his  quarters.  The  naval  officer  ex 
plained  the  situation.  Their  guns  did  not  have 
range  enough  to  reach  the  enemy  and  they 
were  in  danger  of  being  sunk  at  their  moorings. 
He  requested  the  General  to  try  the  range  of 
the  big  6-inch  "James''  rifle,  which  was  mounted 
in  a  little  battery  of  its  own  on  the  bluff. 

At  the  time  of  this  attack  there  happened  to 
be  no  regular  artillerists  in  camp.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  the  James  rifle  had  no  crew.  The  gun 
was  not  considered  a  part  of  the  armament  of 
the  place.  It  had  been  brought  there  and 
mounted  by  the  inventor  and  maker  at  his  own 
expense,  in  his  desire  to  have  it  tested  and 
adopted  by  the  Government.  It  was  one  of 
the  forerunners  of  the  modern  high-power  guns, 
and  a  remarkably  efficient  one,  as  it  had  re 
peatedly  thrown  shells  across  the  James  to  Pigs 
Point,  a  distance  of  four  miles. 

After  the  Hatteras  expedition  sailed  General 
Phelps  began  to  drill  detachments  of  the 
Zouaves  at  this  big  rifle.  They  learned  readily 
and  were  soon  very  proficient.  Therefore, 
when  the  naval  officer  suggested  that  the  big 
gun  be  used,  the  General  replied,  "  I  was  just 
thinking  about  that  myself."  Donovan  was  di- 


92      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

rected  to  call  together  enough  men  to  man  the 
gun.  He  soon  returned  with  three  of  his 
comrades  and  they,  with  General  Phelps  as  one 
of  the  crew,  manned  the  big  gun,  and  in  a  few 
moments  had  opened  fire  on  the  enemy.  The 
General  sighted  and  fired  the  gun  himself, 
getting  the  range  of  the  rebel  gunboat  after  a 
few  shots,  which  obliged  her  to  beat  a  hasty 
retreat  to  the  shelter  of  Craney  Island.  The 
boys  of  the  "  scratch "  gun  crew  were  very 
proud  of  the  fact  that  they  had  been  in  action 
with  a  brigadier-general  as  a  side  partner. 

This  was  another  illustration  of  the  fore 
thought  and  thoroughness  of  General  Phelps 
in  everything  pertaining  to  his  duty. 

Two  companies  still  remained  at  Newport 
News  (B  and  K)  under  command  of  Major 
Kimball,  who  was  chafing  with  impatience  at 
being  kept  from  more  active  service  in  the 
field. 

Intelligence  was  received  at  the  Inlet  in  the 
latter  part  of  September  that  the  enemy  were 
being  largely  reinforced  at  Roanoke  Island,  and 
were  fortifying  it  extensively.  Colonel  Hawkins 
deemed  it  prudent  to  establish  a  camp  at  Chi- 
comocomico,  about  thirty-six  miles  north  of  the 
Inlet,  as  a  point  of  observation,  and  seven  com 
panies  of  the  2Oth  Indiana,  which  had  recently 
arrived  at  the  post,  were  ordered  there  for  that 


CAPTURE  OF  THE  "FANNY."  93 

purpose.  Communication  was  maintained  and 
supplies  forwarded  by  means  of  a  small  steamer, 
the  "  Fanny,"  on  which  was  mounted  one  or 
two  boat  howitzers.  She  was  commanded  by 
the  Sergeant-Major  of  the  Ninth,  who  had  been 
a  sailor,  and  was  manned  by  a  crew  detailed 
from  the  regiment.  On  one  of  the  trips  while 
engaged  in  discharging  cargo  into  small  boats, 
about  four  miles  off  shore,  in  the  shallow  water 
opposite  the  camp  at  Chicomocomico,  she  was 
surprised  and  captured  by  three  rebel  vessels 
which  suddenly  appeared,  and  were  disposed  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  cut  off  her  retreat.  No 
attempt  was  made  to  destroy  the  vessel  or 
cargo  and  everything  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  This  included  Sergeant-Major  Pea 
cock  and  nine  enlisted  men  of  the  Ninth, 
twenty  men  of  the  2Oth  Indiana,  and  all  the 
commissary  and  quartermaster's  stores  with 
which  the  vessel  was  loaded.  All  the  new 
overcoats  for  the  2Oth  were  among  the  stores 
lost.  No  doubt  they  were  appreciated  by  the 
rebels  into  whose  hands  they  fell,  more  espec 
ially  as  the  season  was  already  well  advanced 
toward  the  time  when  cold  weather  might  be 
looked  for.  About  daybreak  on  October  4th, 
only  a  few  days  after  the  above  unfortunate 
occurrence,  the  camp  at  Chicomocomico  was 
attacked  by  an  overwhelming  force  of  the 


94      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

enemy,  who  appeared  so  suddenly  in  several 
vessels  on  the  sound,  as  to  almost  effect  a 
surprise,  landing  both  opposite  to  and  below 
the  camp  in  an  attempt  to  cut  off  the  escape 
of  the  Indiana  men.  At  the  first  alarm,  and 
when  Colonel  Brown,  who  was  in  command 
of  the  20th,  realized  his  position,  he  dis 
patched  a  messenger  to  notify  Colonel  Haw 
kins  of  his  plight  and  fell  hastily  back  out  of 
the  trap  set  for  him.  When  the  messenger 
dispatched  by  Colonel  Brown  reached  Colonel 
Hawkins,  the  latter  at  once  hurried  Captain 
Jardine  toward  Chicomocomico  with  instruc 
tions,  and  to  render  what  assistance  he  could 
pending  the  arrival  of  reinforcements.  Mean 
while  Colonel  Hawkins  notified  the  command 
ant  of  the  naval  forces  at  the  Inlet  of  the  situa- 
ation  and  of  his  intended  action  in  connection 
therewith,  and  at  once  started  with  eight  com 
panies  of  his  regiment  to  the  assistance  of 
Colonel  Brown.  This  march  was  the  most 
severe  and  trying  one  which  the  regiment  had 
up  to  that  time  been  called  upon  to  make. 
The  start  was  made  about  five  o'clock  in  the 
evening  and  was  a  forced  march  in  the  full 
meaning  of  the  term.  The  men  pushed  on 
hour  after  hour  through  the  deep  yielding  sand 
at  their  utmost  speed.  The  night  was  dark 
and  the  ground  over  which  the  regiment  moved 


FORCED  MARCH  TO  CHICOMOCOMICO.  9S 

was  rough.  In  some  places  the  loose  sand  was 
more  than  shoe  deep,  and  as  a  consequence  the 
shoes  of  the  men  filled  with  sand,  which  made 
marching  extremely  painful  and  difficult,  and 
they  had  to  be  removed  and  emptied  at  frequent 
intervals.  Some  of  the  Zouaves  tried  to  im 
prove  matters  by  removing  their  shoes  and 
marching  barefoot.  They  soon  learned  that 
this  was  impossible  as  it  was  found  that  in  many 
places  the  ground  was  thickly  strewn  with 
small  round  sharp-pointed  burrs  which  stuck  in 
the  flesh  and  made  marching  barefooted  out  of 
the  question. 

Some  time  during  the  night  the  regiment 
arrived  at  a  point  within  supporting  distance  of 
the  2Oth,  when  they  heard  the  welcome  com 
mands  "  halt "  and  "  rest,"  and  where  they 
bivouacked  for  the  night.  In  the  morning 
they  started  on  the  return  march  in  company 
with  the  2Oth  Indiana,  and  reached  their  camp 
some  hours  after  dark  the  same  night,  in  a 
worse  condition,  from  fatigue  and  exhaustion, 
than  they  had  been  in  at  any  time  up  to  that 
period  of  their  service. 

General  Mansfield  arrived  at  the  Inlet  about 
this  time  and  assumed  command.  He  re 
mained  only  a  few  days,  however,  as  he  soon 
departed  leaving  Colonel  Hawkins  again  in 
command. 


96      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

On  October  8th  Gen.  Thomas  Williams  was 
ordered  to  Hatteras  Inlet  to  fill  the  place  left 
vacant  by  General  Mansfield,  and  to  assume 
command  of  all  the  Union  troops  in  North 
Carolina,  and  was  especially  directed  when 
establishing  posts  not  to  separate  the  forces  at 
too  great  a  distance  from  each  other. 

General  Williams  was  a  regular  army  officer 
from  the  artillery  branch  of  the  service,  and 
proved  himself  an  able,  and  later,  a  gallant 
soldier,  as  well  as  a  painstaking  and  conscien 
tious  commander.  Still  there  appeared  to  be 
much  of  the  inconsiderate  martinet  in  his  char 
acter.  He  managed  affairs  on  Hatteras  in  a 
vigorous  manner  by  issuing  a  series  of  orders 
which  completely  changed  previous  conditions. 
He  moved  the  different  detachments  of  the 
"  Ninth "  hither  and  thither  according  to  his 
whims  apparently,  establishing  and  breaking  up 
camps,  seemingly  keeping  everything  and  every 
body  in  a  constant  turmoil. 

He  caused  a  battery  to  be  erected  on  the 
beach  facing  the  ocean,  which  to  the  unpro 
fessional  eyes  of  officers  and  men  seemed  to  be 
of  no  advantage.  One  night  during  a  heavy 
storm  a  portion  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  came  up 
and  took  it  away  and  it  was  never  rebuilt. 

Another  fort  on  a  larger  and  more  preten 
tious  scale  was  started  on  the  "  bald  beach  " 


"  WILLIAMS'   FOLLY."  97 

nearest  to  the  camp,  and  which  extended  from 
ocean  to  sound,  as  has  been  described  above. 
This  work  was  designed  by  regular  engineers, 
and  every  enlisted  man  in  the  command  worked 
upon  it  daily,  except  when  on  guard  duty. 
The  fatigue  details  were  at  times  so  large  as  to 
include  nearly  the  entire  force  not  on  guard, 
and  for  many  consecutive  days  at  a  time  there 
were  no  drills.  The  men  named  this  work 
"Williams'  Folly." 

Day  after  day  the  engineer  officers  planned, 
the  men  brought  sand  in  wheelbarrows,  and 
carried  sod,  but  their  best  efforts  could  not 
elevate  the  fort  above  the  level  of  the  beach. 
As  the  work  progressed  the  drifting  sand  was 
carried  forward  like  snow  on  a  wintry  blast, 
swirling  and  lodging  in  and  around  it,  con 
stantly  raising  the  surface  of  the  ground  and 
keeping  pace  with  the  work  as  it  grew  in 
height.  Had  it  been  built  as  high  as  the 
Tower  of  Babel  the  sand  would  probably  have 
risen  to  the  same  height,  and  it  would  have 
always  remained  a  sloping  hill,  its  base  con 
stantly  enlarging  and  its  grade  becoming  more 
gradual. 

General  Williams  was  one  who  in  no  way 
spared  himself,  either  in  hard  work  or  un 
pleasant  duties;  he  was  always  on  active  duty. 
Day  or  night  he  was  a  familiar  figure.  That 


98      NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

his  treatment  of  the  "  Ninth  "  was  severe  cannot 
be  denied.  From  the  first  he  and  the  regiment 
were  antagonistic.  The  men  entertained  a 
feeling  of  resentment  against  an  officer,  who, 
although  of  superior  rank,  had  superseded  their 
colonel  in  an  important  command.  They  did 
not  try  to  conceal  their  feelings,  but  were  wise 
enough  to  avoid  committing  any  overt  act,  and 
in  a  military  sense  were  not  insubordinate. 
Still  they  were  sullen  and  unsoldierly  in  their 
manner  toward  the  General  and  he,  being 
human,  retaliated  by  proposing  to  "  take  it  out 
of  them."  This,  combined  with  the  hard  man 
ual  labor  the  men  were  forced  to  perform  in 
the  work  which  the  General  doubtless  consid 
ered  necessary  for  the  safety  of  the  post,  but 
which  a  majority  of  the  men  looked  upon  as 
rank  tyranny,  caused  relations  which  diplo 
mats  would  call  "  strained." 

Some  of  the  more  reckless  of  the  men  con 
structed  pitfalls  in  the  sand  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  new  fort  for  the  purpose  of 
entrapping  the  General.  They  succeeded  at 
last,  and  when  one  morning  he  tumbled  into 
one  of  them,  they  exhibited  great  glee,  although 
somewhat  suppressed,  and  considered  them 
selves  well  paid  for  the  extra  labor  expended  in 
digging  it. 

Another  matter  which  added  to  the  discom- 


SIMULATING  DEFENSE.  99 

fort  of  the  troops  while  General  Williams  was 
in  command  was  the  simulating  a  defense 
against  surprise  each  morning  two  hours  before 
daylight. 

His  theory,  which  was  doubtless  correct,  was 
that  if  the  enemy  attempted  a  surprise  he  would 
be  likely  to  make  the  attempt  just  before  day 
break,  consequently  to  properly  guard  against 
it  the  troops  should  be  in  the  defenses  or  in 
line  of  battle  previous  to  that  hour.  Inasmuch 
as  the  camps  were  at  one  end  of  an  island 
which  was  situated  forty  miles  from  the  main 
land,  and  in  some  parts  not  over  one-fourth  of 
a  mile  wide,  with  detachments  of  troops  en 
camped  along  the  narrow  island  many  miles 
from  the  main  camp,  and  with  outlying  pickets 
as  well,  the  chances  of  such  an  attempt  being 
made  were  deemed  too  remote  to  justify  turn 
ing  the  men  out  of  their  more  or  less  warm 
blankets  between  three  and  four  o'clock  on  cold 
winter  mornings  to  perform  an  hour  or  two  of 
hard  drill  in  simulating  a  defense.  All  this 
produced  a  feeling  of  dislike  on  one  side  and 
distrust  on  the  other.  The  following  will  serve 
to  illustrate. 

There  were  stationed  at  one  of  the  outlying 
camps  three  companies  of  the  "  Ninth,"  among 
them  Company  K.  From  the  time  of  taking 
the  field  no  issue  of  fresh  meat  had  been  made 


1 OO   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NE  W  YORK  VOL  UNTEERS. 

to  the  regiment,  and  none  had  reached  the  men 
with  the  exception  of  what  little  had  been  pro 
cured  in  ways  it  is  unnecessary  to  explain,  but 
which  would  have  been  frowned  upon  by  the 
good  people  at  home.  Consequently  the  men 
were,  as  they  expressed  it,  "  meat  hungry."  A 
certain  member  of  one  of  Company  K's  squads 
became  possessed  of  the  knowledge  that  one 
of  Caleb  Stowe's  hogs  had  escaped  from  its 
pen  and  was  wandering  far  from  home  midst 
the  brush  and  swamps,  and  was  liable  to  come 
to  harm.  An  expedition  wras  organized  for  its 
capture.  Tom  Stapleton,  "  Blackie "  Farley, 
" Buffer"  Johnson,  and  several  others  started 
from  camp  to  capture  the  prize. 

It  was  necessary  to  move  secretly  and  quietly, 
for  if  anyone  outside  the  squad  to  which  these 
energetic  and  resourceful  young  soldiers  be 
longed  had  learned  that  " fresh  pork"  was 
wandering  loose  in  the  woods  the  entire  com 
mand  would  soon  have  known  it  also,  and  then 
all  chance  of  its  capture  would  have  been 
destroyed.  To  shoot  the  porker  was  out  of  the 
question,  for  at  that  time  to  discharge  a  cartridge, 
except  at  the  enemy,  would  have  brought  swift 
and  condign  punishment  upon  the  rash  offender. 
The  game  must  be  secured  either  by  fleetness 
of  foot  or  by  strategy.  They  first  attempted  to 
run  it  down,  without  reckoning  on  the  speed 


THE  A  TTEMPT  A  T  ASSASSIN  A  TION.  1 0 1 

and  endurance  of  a  ''razor-back"  hog.  How 
ever,  by  judicious  relays  of  pursuers  they  so 
succeeded  in  tiring  it  that  it  sought  cover  in  a 
little  thicket  by  the  side  of  a  sandy  road,  which 
made  a  sharp  turn  here  at  the  edge  of  the 
woods.  The  men  were  creeping  stealthily 
forward  to  surround  their  prey,  and  were  well 
closed  in  on  its  hiding  place,  when  General 
Williams,  who  was  on  his  way  to  the  camp  for 
his  accustomed  visit,  rode  rapidly,  and  on  ac 
count  of  the  soft  sand  in  the  road,  noiselessly 
out  of  the  woods.  The  men  were  so  eager  and 
intent  on  the  business  before  them  that  not  one 
of  them  was  aware  of  his  presence.  The  rush 
of  the  horse  startled  the  hog,  which  at  once 
broke  cover.  One  man,  referring  to  the  animal, 

shouted:    "There   goes   the !     Give  it  to 

him!"  To  the  General,  it  was  plainly  an 
ambush  with  an  attempt  at  assassination,  and 
driving  the  spurs  into  his  horse,  and  lying  low 
on  the  animal's  neck,  he  was  off  like  a  bird,  and 
galloping  direct  to  camp  ordered  the  "long 
roll  "  to  be  at  once  beaten.  The  foragers  com 
prehended  the  situation  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye.  Lack  of  acute  perception  and  prompt  de 
cision  could  not  be  charged  among  their  short 
comings.  Dashing  across  the  swamp  by  a  short 
cut  they  secured  their  arms  and  were  in  their 
places  in  line  when  the  companies  were 
formed. 


•102    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

The  roll  was  called  and  all  the  men  were 
found  to  be  present  or  accounted  for.  The 
General  was  puzzled,  and  it  is  needless  to  add 
that  the  culprits  were  never  discovered.  Had 
they  been,  in  all  probability  they  would  have 
been  severely  dealt  with,  probably  have  been 
shot,  as  the  evidence  would  have  been  strongly 
against  them.  The  story  was  too  rich  to  be 
kept  a  secret  and  finally  leaked  out,  but  not  until 
after  the  regiment  had  been  assigned  to  another 
command. 

General  Williams  was  killed  at  the  battle  of 
Baton  Rouge,  La.,  while  gallantly  leading  an 
Iowa  regiment  in  a  charge  on  the  enemy.  His 
untimely  death  was  regretted  by  both  the  offi 
cers  and  men  of  Hawkins'  Zouaves,  as  notwith 
standing  his  faults  he  proved  himself  a  gallant 
soldier. 

As  they  became  more  experienced  in  army 
life  they  learned  that  eccentricity  was  not  an 
uncommon  characteristic  of  elderly  army  offi 
cers,  and  that  the  General's  harshness  and 
severity  was  due  very  largely  to  their  own 
unpleasant  habit  of  not  only  thinking  but  of 
sometimes  expressing  their  thoughts  in  words, 
while  he  was  simply  carrying  out  his  own  idea 
of  what  was  proper  to  be  done  and  perform 
ing  his  duty  as  he  thought  it  should  be  per 
formed. 


MAJ.  KIMBALL   WITH  COS.  B  &  K,  ARRIVE.       1O3 

Soon  after  the  appointment  of  General  Wil 
liams  to  the  command  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  Gen 
eral  Mansfield  sent  a  report  to  General  Wool, 
of  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

"The  command  of  Col.  W.  L.  Brown  being  but  seven  companies — say 
500  strong — and  the  enemy  supposed  to  be  at  least  2,000  strong,  Col. 
Brown  immediately,  by  orders  received  from  Colonel  Hawkins  at  that 
moment,  took  up  his  line  of  march  on  the  east  beach  for  Hatteras  light 
house,  where  he  was  met  by  Colonel  Hawkins  with  his  command,  and 
finally  the  whole  command  fell  back  to  this  station — Hatteras  Inlet — 
with  a  loss  on  the  part  of  Colonel  Brown  of  three  sergeants,  two  cor 
porals,  and  twenty-four  men  stragglers. 

"  He  sent  back  a  party  to  burn  and  destroy  his  camp,  which  was 
supposed  to  be  partially  done,  and  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy." 

On  the  yth  of  October,  Companies  B  and  K, 
which  had  remained  at  Newport  News  under 
command  of  Major  Kimball,  arrived  at  Hatteras. 
All  the  companies  were  thus  once  more  assem 
bled  at  the  same  post  or  station,  but  they  were 
not  reunited  by  any  means.  The  whole  regi 
ment  was  not  encamped  together  at  any  one 
time  during  their  occupation  of  Hatteras. 
During  all  the  time  Colonel  Hawkins  was  in 
command  of  the  post  his  headquarters  continued 
to  be  at  Fort  Hatteras,  with  at  times  one,  two 
or  perhaps  three  companies  of  the  regiment 
encamped  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  under  com 
mand  of  one  of  the  senior  captains,  while  the 
remainder  of  the  battalion  present  was  located 
at  Camp  Wool,  about  two  miles  above  the  fort, 
with  Lieutenant-Colonel  Betts  in  command. 


1O4   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

The  Lieutenant-Colonel  was  an  officer  of  very 
superior  talents  and  attainments,  an  excellent 
tactician  and  possessed  of  marked  executive 
ability.  He  also  enjoyed  the  respect  and  con 
fidence  of  every  one  in  the  regiment.  He  was 
the  happy  possessor  of  a  faculty  which  few 
officers,  either  regular  or  volunteer,  could  claim— 
of  being  able  to  make  a  battalion  drill  interest 
ing  to  those  engaged  in  it.  His  clear  and 
concise  explanations  of  the  way  to  perform  in 
tricate  evolutions  were  listened  to  with  interest, 
if  not  with  pleasure.  Another  thing  which  is 
remembered  distinctly  by  the  survivors  of  the 
regiment,  is  the  regularity  and  smoothness  with 
which  everything  pertaining  to  the  daily  routine 
of  camp  life  progressed  when  under  his  com 
mand.  It  is  remembered  that  there  was  an 
almost  total  absence  of  jar  or  friction  in  camp 
when  he  was  the  commanding  officer. 

There  were  officers  in  the  regiment  toward 
whom  more  affection  may  have  been  felt  by  the 
men  but  none  of  them  were  more  highly  es 
teemed  by  them  than  Lieutenant-Colonel  Betts. 

When  Major  Kirnball  arrived  from  Newport 
News,"  with  the  two  remaining  companies, 
another  camp  was  established  still  farther  up 
the  island,  to  the  command  of  which  he  was 
assigned. 

After  General  Williams  arrived  at  the   post 


COMPANY  K,  BECOMES  A  BA  TTER  Y.  1  OS 

camps  were  changed  and  commands  readjusted 
so  frequently  that  it  would  be  monotonous  to 
chronicle  them  in  detail. 

When  Colonel  Hawkins  was  placed  in  arrest 
and  sent  to  Fortress  Monroe  accompanied  by 
charges  of  insubordination — the  result  of  his  re 
fusal  to  assign  Captain  Bernard  to  a  company 
when  ordered  to  do  so  by  General  Williams, 
an  account  of  which  will  be  found  in  another 
chapter — the  command  of  the  regiment  devolved 
on  Lieutenant-Colonel  Betts.  His  headquar 
ters  were  always  at  or  near  Camp  Wool,  but 
the  greater  portion  of  the  regiment  was  nearly 
always  distributed  among  the  other  outlying 
camps,  Winfield,  Trent  and  others,  and  Major 
Kimball  was  always  in  command  of  the  largest 
battalion,  as  befitted  his  rank. 

When  Colonel  Hawkins  rejoined  the  regi 
ment,  which  was  in  December  22,  after  an  ab 
sence  of  about  two  months,  he  brought  with 
him  two  hundred  rifles  with  which  to  arm  the 
flank  companies — the  regiment  \vas  originally 
armed  with  smooth  bore  muskets — and  three 
light  field  howitzers.  These  were  given  to 
Capt.  James  R.  Whiting's  Company  K,  which 
was  erected  into  a  battery,  three  more  guns 
being  added  later,  which  made  up  the  full  com 
plement  for  a  field  battery. 

The  men  of  Company  K  at  once  began  the 


1O6   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

drill  and  practice  of  light  battery  tactics,  soon 
mastering  all  the  intricacies  and  becoming  quite 
proficient  in  handling  the  guns.  The  company 
afterward  rendered  excellent  and  efficient  ser 
vice  both  in  field  and  garrison,  especially  during 
the  siege  of  Suffolk,  Va.,  and  were  frequently 
commended  by  the  different  generals  in  whose 
command  they  served. 

During  the  months  of  November,  December, 
and  January,  the  various  companies  of  the  reg 
iment  were  constantly  changing  camp,  and 
finally  settled  down  in  their  original  positions, 
where  they  remained  until  the  final  departure 
from  Hatteras. 

On  the  1 3th  of  January,  1862,  the  steamer 
11  S.  R.  Spaulding  "  arrived  at  Hatteras,  followed 
by  many  vessels  of  the  Burnside  expedition. 

This  expedition  was  organized  for  the  cap 
ture  of  Roanoke  Island  and  other  locations  on 
the  North  Carolina  Sounds  and  adjacent  rivers, 
and  was  accompanied  by  a  fleet  of  improvised 
gunboats,  under  the  command  of  Commodore 
Goldsborough.  The  fleet  of  transports  seemed 
a  strange  one  to  send  through  Hatteras  Inlet. 
It  was  a  gathering  of  nearly  everything  that 
would  float.  There  were  full-rigged  ships, 
ocean  steamers,  New  York  bay  tugboats, 
Brooklyn  and  Staten  Island  ferryboats;  the 
sight  of  which  caused  the  New  York  boys  a 


THE  BURNSIDE  EXPEDITION.  1O7 

pang  of  homesickness,  as  thoughts  swiftly  flew 
to  scenes  at  home.  None  knew  of  the  presence 
of  the  choking  lump  of  emotion  in  the  throat  of 
his  comrade  as  they  gazed  at  these  familiar 
boats,  but  each  was  secretly  conscious  of  his 
own  longing  for  home  and  loved  ones. 

There  were  also  canal  boats  from  Buffalo, 
and  one  stern-wheel  steamer  from  away  down 
in  Maine,  and  it  may  be  safe  to  say  that  the 
age  of  some  of  the  craft  would  date  nearly  back 
to  the  days  of  Noah's  ark. 

It  was  said  that  Pamlico  and  Albemarle 
Sounds  were  navigable  for  vessels  drawing 
nine  feet,  but  on  the  "  Swash  "  or  inner  bar  at 
the  Inlet,  there  was  only  six  feet  of  water. 
While  navigators  and  engineers  were  engaged 
in  the  elucidation  of  the  problem  of  how  to  sail 
a  vessel  drawing  twenty  feet  across  a  bar  over 
which  there  were  but  six  feet  of  water,  the  fleet 
remained  at  anchor  in  the  open  ocean.  An 
easterly  storm  arose  while  it  was  thus  ex 
posed,  and  while  some  vessels  stood  out  to 
sea  for  safety,  most  of  the  fleet  trusted  to  riding 
it  out  at  anchor.  The  storm  proved  to  be  very 
severe  and  several  vessels  went  ashore  and 
were  lost. 

As  many  vessels  as  could  anchor  in  the  Inlet 
did  so  and  found  a  comparatively  secure  har 
bor,  but  outside  the  scene  was  frightful.  Many 


108    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

vessels  dragged  anchor,  some  dashed  into  the 
breakers,  others  foundered  where  they  lay.  Two 
ocean  steamers  were  in  the  south  breakers  at 
the  same  time,  pounding  to  pieces,  in  plain 
view  of  the  people  on  shore  and  those  on  the 
vessels  at  anchor  in  the  Inlet,  but  the  weather 
was  so  tempestuous,  and  the  seas  so  high, 
that  at  first  little  if  any  aid  could  be  given  the 
unfortunates,  and  many  lives  were  lost.  At 
last  volunteer  crews  manned  several  lifeboats 
and  did  heroic  and  efficient  service,  rescuing 
many  of  the  shipwrecked  people.  When  the 
weather  had  moderated  sufficiently  to  do  so 
with  safety,  the  entire  force  was  disembarked 
and  went  into  camp  to  await  the  solving  of  the 
aforesaid  problem. 

The  drinking  water  on  the  island  being  very 
bad,  considerable  sickness  occurred  after  the 
troops  landed.  There  had  been  some  cases  of 
typhoid  fever  among  the  soldiers  of  the  "Ninth," 
and  a  few  deaths,  but  among  the  new  men  the 
deaths  occurred  by  the  score.  In  addition  to 
typhoid,  measles  broke  out  in  some  of  the  new 
regiments,  and  was  attended  with  great  fatality. 
Funerals  were  of  so  frequent  occurrence  that  it 
was  said  by  a  jocular  spirit  that  the  mocking 
birds  had  learned  to  whistle  the  "  Dead  March." 

Notwithstanding  the  extremely  bad  water, 
and  the  generally  insanitary  condition  of  the 


FAITHFUL  SER  VICE  OF  THE  MEDICAL  OFFICERS.    1 09 

ground  in  the  vicinity  of  the  camps  of  the 
Ninth,  the  sick  list  never  became  large,  and  the 
total  deaths  from  disease  during  the  two  years' 
term  of  service  numbered  only  twenty. 

At  this  juncture  the  Zouaves  began  to  re 
alize  their  good  fortune  in  being  blessed  with 
such  medical  officers  as  Doctors  Humphreys 
and  White,  who  constantly  and  intelligently 
attended  strictly  to  the  performance  of  duty. 
The  sick  were  attended  to  as  faithfully  as  they 
would  have  been  at  home.  The  men  had  the 
utmost  confidence  in  the  skill  and  ability  of  the 
surgeons,  and  in  their  faithful  attention  to  duty 
at  all  times ;  and  that  trust  was  never  mis 
placed. 

Nearly  a  month  passed  in  lightening  gun 
boats  and  transports,  and  dragging  them  over 
the  bar  into  the  deeper  water  of  the  Sound,  and 
this  time  was  occupied  by  the  newly  arrived 
troops  in  improving  their  drill  and  discipline. 

The  greater  part  of  both  officers  and  men  of 
the  new  regiments  had  never  handled  a  musket 
or  performed  a  military  evolution,  To  some 
of  them  a  drill  was  simply  marching  hither  and 
thither  by  the  flank,  like  schoolboys  upon  the 
village  common. 

One  morning  a  company  was  drilling  near 
the  camp  of  the  "  Ninth "  and  a  swamp  hole 
was  directly  in  their  path,  when  the  captain 


11O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

gave  the  command,  "  Boys,  haw  (go  to  the  left) 
that  mud  puddle ! "  They  understood  and 
"  hawed  "  it. 

The  officers  of  the  new  regiments  fully  re 
alized  their  deficiency  in  the  knowledge  of  drill 
and  military  matters  in  general.  They  sought 
to  remedy  this  defect  and  soon  obtained  the 
needed  help.  Men  of  the  "  Ninth  "  volunteered 
to  instruct  such  officers  and  non-commissioned 
officers  as  wished  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
opportunity  and  whose  regimental  camps  were 
near  enough  to  that  of  the  Ninth  to  make  it 
practicable.  Many  of  the  Zouaves  devoted 
considerable  time  and  attention,  when  off  duty 
between  drills,  in  giving  theoretical  and  prac 
tical  instructions  to  the  new  men  in  the  manual 
of  arms,  and  school  of  the  soldier,  and  com 
pany. 

A  considerable  proportion  of  the  officers' 
tents  became  schools  of  instruction,  and  doubt 
less  much  benefit  was  derived  from  this  method 
of  teaching.  It  may  be  as  well  to  remark  in 
this  connection  rthat  without  an  exception  all  of 
these  new  regiments  returned  from  the  war 
with  most  excellent  records,  many  of  the  officers 
distinguishing  themselves  in  battle,  some  of 
them  obtaining  high  rank  and  occupying  re 
sponsible  positions  before  the  Rebellion  ended. 

After  weeks  of  hard  and  unremitting  labor 


RA  TIONS  FROM  THE  SEA.  1 1  1 

the  fleet  was  at  last  anchored  safely  in  the 
Sound,  stores  were  reloaded,  batteries  replaced, 
and  all  was  ready  for  the  forward  movement 
to  Roanoke  Island. 

There  was  one  circumstance  which  occurred 
while  the  detachment  under  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Betts  was  stationed  at  Chicomocomico  which 
may  be  worth  mentioning. 

While  camped  there  rations  ran  very  low  and 
at  last  came  the  cry  of  "  no  grub,"  which  proved 
to  be  the  fact,  as  not  a  morsel  of  food  was  left 
in  the  commissary  department,  and  starvation 
threatened,  when  in  some  way  now  forgotten, 
the  "  Monticello,"  lying  off  the  beach,  was  com 
municated  with,  and  the  situation  explained  to 
the  commanding  officer,  Lieut.  Daniel  L.  Braine, 
who  relieved  the  necessity  of  the  soldiers  by 
throwing  overboard  barrels  of  ship's-bread  (a 
large,  hard,  round  cracker)  which  slowly  floated 
ashore  and  was  seized  with  avidity  by  the 
hungry  and  expectant  Zouaves  ;  the  slight 
addition  of  salt  water  in  no  way  interfering 
with  its  palatableness. 

There  were  a  large  number  of  inhabitants 
scattered  along  the  beach  of  the  island,  each 
family  locating  on  a  spot  wherever  a  patch  of 
fertile  soil  occurred-- fertile  when  compared 
with  the  drifting  sand  which  composed  the 
greater  part  of  the  island.  These  patches  were, 


1  12  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

in  a  way,  cultivated;  corn,  sweet  potatoes,  and  a 
few  other  vegetables  being  raised.  The  entire 
"  plantation/'  as  it  was  designated,  being  about 
the  size  of  an  ordinary  kitchen  garden  on  a 
northern  farm. 

The  men  of  the  island  were  fishermen  and 
pilots ;  the  former  their  regular  vocation,  the 
latter,  when  opportunity  offered,  to  catch  a  ves 
sel  bound  in  through  the  Inlet. 

At  various  elevated  places  along  the  beach 
tall  spars  and  masts  of  wrecked  vessels  had 
been  planted  perpendicularly  in  the  sand  with 
small  pieces  of  wreckage  nailed  crosswise  upon 
them  to  form  a  primitive  ladder.  The  top  of 
this  ladder  was  used  as  a  lookout  station,  from 
which  eager  eyes  scanned  the  horizon  for  inward 
bound  craft,  the  one  first  sighting  such  a  vessel 
having  the  best  chance  of  first  reaching  her  in 
his  boat,  thus  securing  the  privilege  of  piloting 
her  through  the  shoals  and  over  the  bar  into 
the  deeper  waters  of  the  Sound. 

When  Hatteras  was  captured  and  occupied 
this  industry  was  destroyed,  as  all  vessels 
arriving  after  that  date  were  captured  by  the 
Federal  gunboats. 

The  natives  soon  learned  that  the  boys  pos 
sessed  money  and  could  be  induced  to  part 
with  it  in  exchange  for  any  commodity  which 
struck  their  fancy,  more  particularly  in  the  line 


TRADE  WITH  THE  INHABITANTS.  1  1  3 

of  eatables,  which  might  prove  a  grateful  change 
from  " sow-belly"  and  usalt  horse."  There 
were  no  roads  on  the  island  except  such  as  had 
been  made  by  tlie  troops  from  camp  to  camp,' 
all  transportation  being  by  water.  Each  family 
possessed  several  boats  for  sailing  or  rowing, 
some  fitted  for  sound,  others  for  ocean  work. 
Trade  was  at  first  somewhat  sluggish.  A 
soldier  would  hail  a  passing  fisherman  going 
home  with  his  " catch"  and  inquire  if  the  fish 
were  for  sale,  and  the  man  would  gladly  land 
and  probably  dispose  of  the  entire  lot. 

On  passing  camp  the  next  time  he  would 
naturally  stop  and  offer  his  fish.  In  the  mean 
time  his  neighbors  heard  of  the  new  market 
near  home,  and  they  came  also  with  sweet 
potatoes,  eggs,  chickens,  etc.,  and  the  women, 
not  to  be  outdone  in  the  trading  line,  brought 
specimens  of  home  cooking,  "  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made,"  the  master  piece,  being  the 
sweet  potato  pie,  which  looked  like  a  sheet  of 
thick,  wet  brown  paper  spread  on  a  sole-leather 
crust. 

Surgeon  Humphreys,  however,  soon  placed 
a  veto  on  the  sale  of  this  wonderful  composi 
tion,  and  the  sentries  received  orders  to  pro 
hibit  its  sale  in  any  of  the  camps.  There  was 
soon  an  animated  market  scene,  each  morning, 
at  the  little  landings  of  the  different  camps. 


114   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

So  long  as  his  money  held  out  the  soldier 
paid  fairly  and  honestly  for  goods  purchased, 
and  doubtless  whether  he  had  cash  or  not  it  was 
his  intention  to  pay  at  some  future  time,  but  as 
a  certain  place  is  said  to  be  paved  with  good 
intentions,  it  is  certain  that  many  a  stone  was 
added  to  the  said  pavement  during  the  stay  at 
Hatteras.  The  poorly  executed  "shinplaster" 
rebel  money  which  was  tendered  the  soldiers  in 
change — and  of  course  refused — gave  some  of 
the  men  an  idea.  The  pioneer  in  this  enter 
prise  tried  his  luck  by  offering  a  label  from  a 
sherry  wine  bottle  in  exchange  for  two  fine  roe- 
shad,  and  was  a  trifle  staggered  when  the 
fisherman  asked  him  what  it  was.  He  quickly 
recovered  his  equanimity,  however,  and  coolly 
replied,  "a  dollar,"  and  received,  without  the 
quiver  of  an  eyelid,  seventy-five  cents  in 
change.  For  sometime  after  this  trade  was 
exceedingly  brisk,  any  kind  of  label  from  bottle 
or  box  passing  current. 

Of  course  good  things  cannot  last  forever. 
Before  long  the  natives  realized  the  worthless- 
ness  of  the  stuff,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that 
many  of  them  had  their  confidence  in  the 
integrity  of  the  Zouaves  sadly  shocked  thereby. 

It  is  a  difficult  matter  to  attempt  to  defend 
such  transactions,  still  it  can  be  truthfully 
stated  that  passing  wine  and  condensed  milk 


WINE  LABELS  AS  CURRENCY.  1  1 5 

labels,  as  the  currency  of  the  realm,  on  poor  and 
illiterate  people  by  the  boys  of  the  regiment, 
was  in  a  majority  of  cases  done  in  a  thoughtless 
spirit  of  mischief,  rather  than  with  the  deliberate 
intent  of  defrauding  the  receiver.  But  with 
some  the  motto  was  "  necessity  knows  no  law." 
When  the  paymaster  failed  to  put  in  an  appear 
ance,  and  the  money  of  the  regiment  had  been 
exhausted,  a  ways  and  means  committee  was 
appointed  to  devise  methods  for  adding  variety 
to  the  bill  of  fare,  but  this  was  strictly  sub 
rosa. 

The  potato  and  other  root  crops  of  the  natives 
were  stored  in  what  were  called  potato-houses^ 
which  were  shallow  holes  in  the  ground,  over 
which  a  log  structure  was  built,  in  turn  covered 
by  earth,  with  the  object  of  preserving  an  even 
temperature.  An  entrance  to  this  depot  could 
readily  be  made  by  anyone  so  disposed,  although 
it  was  well  known  by  all  the  Zouaves  that  swift 
and  severe  punishment  would  follow  the  detec 
tion  of  anyone  found  plundering  the  inhabitants. 
Foraging  was  the  polite  term  given  it  in  camp. 
Still,  among  such  a  number  of  men  there  were 
plenty  willing  to  assume  any  risk  for  a  change 
of  diet.  This  was  usually  accomplished  in  the 
daytime  while  uout  on  pass;"  for  going  outside 
the  lines  at  night  was  a  delicate  and  somewhat 
dangerous  undertaking,  and  not  generally 


1  16   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

attempted  unless  arrangements  had  previously 
been  made  with  one  of  the  guard  who  was 
expected  to  cover  a  post  more  or  less  remote 
from  the  guard-house  on  a  certain  "  relief" 
during  the  coming  night. 

In  the  daytime  the  coveted  articles  were  pro 
cured  by  one  of  a  party  of  men  inducing  the 
occupant  of  some  house  selected  for  the  attempt 
to  accompany  him  to  a  point  from  which  the 
potato-house  was  out  of  view,  and  there  haggle 
over  the  price  of  a  chicken  or  some  other  mer 
chandise  long  enough  to  permit  his  partner  to 
slide  off  with  potatoes  sufficient  for  the  present 
requirement  of  the  mess,  when  the  pretended 
purchaser  would  suddenly  break  off  negotiations, 
and  probably  on  the  pretense  that  the  seller  was 
attempting  to  impose  extraordinary  prices  on 
poor  soldiers. 

Sometimes  these  despoilers  came  to  grief, 
their  uniform  being  so  distinctive  that  their 
depredations  were  soon  discovered,  when  they 
were  traced  to  camp  and  a  complaint  lodged 
with  Major  Kimball,  or  whoever  happened  to  be 
in  command. 

Whether  it  was  Major  Kimball's  condition  of 
mind  on  different  occasions,  or  his  endeavor  to 
pass  sentence  on  the  culprits  suitable  to  the 
crime,  certain  it  was,  justice  often  saw  great 
variations  in  his  judgments  and  his  punishments 


PRO  VI NG  THE  Y  DIDW  T  DO  IT.  117 

were  quite  irregular.  One  morning  a  com 
plainant  was  seen  to  be  in  close  consultation 
with  the  Major.  The  man  was  recognized  by 
several  of  the  Zouaves,  and  in  consequence 
there  was  considerable  uneasiness  among  them. 

Dress  parade  was  about  to  be  held  and  the 
complainant  took  position  beside  the  command 
ing  officer.  After  the  adjutant  reported  "  parade 
formed,"  Major  Kimball  addressed  the  men 
about  as  follows : 

"  Men,  this  man  makes  complaint  that  his 
potato-house  was  broken  into  and  robbed 
last  night,  and  says  he  saw  the  men  who  did  it, 
and  that  they  wore  the  uniform  of  this  regiment 
I  told  him  I  did  not  believe  any  of  my  men 
would  be  guilty  of  such  a  trick,  and  to  satisfy 
him  would  ask  you  in  his  presence,  and  he 
could  hear  for  himself.  Now  I  ask,  did  any 
one  in  this  battalion  rob  the  potato-house?" 
Long  before  the  Major  had  finished  his  speech 
the  men  had  taken  the  cue  and  were  ready  with 
the  expected  answer,  which  was  a  unanimous. 
"  No  !"  roared  in  unison  by  every  man  in  the 
line.  The  Major  dismissed  the  native  with 
a  wave  of  his  hand,  saying:  "There!  I  told  you 
they  didn't  do  it." 

These  complaints,  however,  were  not  always 
dismissed  in  this  complaisant  manner.  Some 
times  when  a  native  appeared  in  camp  with  a 
story  of  loss  of  property  in  which  the  men 


1  18    NIN'IH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

figured  as  the  culprits,  he  would  be  directed  to 
remain  in  camp  until  the  battalion  or  regiment, 
if  camped  in  a  body, " fell  in"  for  drill  or  parade, 
when  the  ranks  would  be  opened  and  the 
accuser  conducted  up  and  down  both  ranks  from 
flank  to  flank  on  a  tour  of  inspection,  with  in 
structions  to  point  out  the  guilty  persons  if 
possible.  In  several  instances  when  men  were 
so  identified,  in  addition  to  the  punishment  in 
flicted,  a  fine  was  imposed  which  was  far  in 
excess  of  the  value  of  the  missing  property. 

On  one  of  these  occasions  when  a  countryman 
was  passing  along  the  line  carefully  scrutinizing 
every  countenance  in  the  ranks,  trusting  to 
recognize  the  hapless  individuals  ;vvho  had  de 
spoiled  him  of  his  property,  he  passed  in  front 
of  Company  K.  Tom  Farley,  who  feared  that 
he  might  possibly  bear  a  resemblance  to  the 
guilty  party  sought  for,  assumed  a  frightful 
squint,  suddenly  developing  one  of  the  worst 
cases  of  strabismus  ever  known  in  the  service, 
and  as  the  man  examined  him  closely,  Farley, 
throwing  as  much  savageness  in  his  voice  as 
possible,  growled  ferociously,  "  Who  in  the  h — 1 
are  you  looking  at?" 

The  voice  and  squint  were  not  recognized  as 
having  been  with  the  party  of  evildoers,  and 
the  native  hastily  passed  on,  leaving  the  boys 
inwardly  convulsed  at  the  success  of  the  stra 
tagem. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

UNDERWAY  FOR  ROANOKE  ISLAND — ARRIVAL  - 
ENGAGEMENT  WITH  THE  FORTS — LANDING 
OF  THE  TROOPS -- BIVOUAC  IN  THE  MUD 
FOR  THE  NIGHT — STEALING  BED  FROM  BE 
NEATH  THE  COLONEL — ARMY  MOVES  ON 
THE  ENEMY — MAJOR  KIMBALL'S  FEAR  THAT 
THE  MEN  MIGHT  WEAKEN  -  -  ARRIVAL  IN 
FRONT  OF  BATTERY  -  -  ORDER  TO  CHARGE 

THE  WORKS COLONEL  DEMONTEIL  KILLED 

-  FIRST     BAYONET    CHARGE    OF    THE   WAR 

•   WHAT    CURIE     SAW  -  -  REFLECTIONS  

EXTRACTS  FROM  REPORTS    OF  GENERALS  IN 
COMMAND  —  CAPTURE    OF    CAPTAIN  WISE - 
MORE  RAIN  -  -  DESCRIPTION    OF    PRISONERS. 

ABOUT  8  o'clock  A.M.,  February  5th,  all  the 
troops  which  were  to  form  the  expedition 
being  on  board  the  transports,  the  entire  fleet 
got  underway  for  Roanoke  Island.  At  6  P.M.  it 
anchored  until  the  next  day,  each  brigade  an 
choring  near  its  own  flagship,  so  that  in  the 
event  of  receiving  hurried  orders  each  vessel 
could  be  communicated  with  readily.  At  eight 
o'clock  the  following  morning  anchors  were 
weighed  and  the  voyage  resumed,  but  at  noon 


1  20  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

a  heavy  fog  settled  down,  which  caused  another 
halt  and  another  day's  delay. 

An  early  start  was  made  on  the  yth,  and  soon 
Roanoke  Island  came  into  view.  The  Union 
gunboats  formed  in  single  column,  steamed 
ahead  and  opened  fire  on  the  various  points 
where  the  enemy  had  exposed  their  positions 
by  engaging  the  advancing  warships.  It  was 
thus  discovered  that  the  rebel  defenses  con 
sisted  of  three  batteries  near  the  shore.  One  of 
these  it  was  afterward  learned,  consisted  of 
eleven,  one  of  nine,  and  the  last  of  four  guns. 
Across  the  channel  in  Croatan  Sound  a  row  of 
piles  had  been  driven  as  an  obstruction  to  the 
gunboats,  and  beyond  them  four  armed  rebel 
vessels  were  stationed.  The  commander  of  the 
gunboats  employed  tactics  similar  to  those  in 
troduced  by  Stringham  at  the  bombardment 
of  Hatteras.  He  arranged  his  vessels  in  such 
a  way,  each  following  its  leader  in  single  file, 
that  after  once  passing  the  forts  they  formed 
an  ellipsis,  engaging  the  enemy  from  the  inner 
edge,  continuing  until  out  of  range  along  the 
off  shore  side,  and  again  resuming  their  fire 
when  within  range  of  the  first  or  southerly 
battery,  where  the  ships  again  sent  in  their 
broadsides.  This  movement  continued  almost 
continuously  for  the  entire  day. 

The    transports    were    held    at    a    safe    dis- 


ENGAGEMENT  WITH  THE  FORTS.  121 

tance,  their  decks,  rigging  and  crosstrees  being 
crowded  with  troops  eagerly  watching  the 
action.  The  majority  of  the  spectators  wit 
nessed  a  bombardment  for  the  first  time.  Al 
most  every  detail  of  the  action  was  in  unob 
structed  view.  Every  time  a  flag  on  the  Con 
federate  works  was  shot  away  the  troops,  sup 
posing  it  betokened  surrender,  would  send  forth 
such  deafening  cheers  as  to  nearly  drown  the 
roar  of  the  cannon.  The  several  flags  on  the 
different  forts  were  carried  away  a  number  of 
times  during  the  day,  but  were  always  replaced 
within  a  short  time. 

The  schooner  yacht  "  Henrietta,"  formerly 
the  property  of  James  Gorden  Bennett,  and 
which  he  had  presented  to  the  Government  at 
the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  was  a  commissioned 
United  States  war  vessel  serving  with  the 
fleet.  She  was  in  the  fiercest  of  the  fight 
during  the  entire  day.  She  was  armed  with  a 
loo-pounder  Parrott  gun,  mounted  amidships, 
and  rendered  as  efficient  service  as  any  vessel 
in  the  fleet. 

The  blazing  buildings  within  the  forts,  and 
the  flying  earth  and  wreckage  from  exploding 
shells  marking  the  accurate  aim  of  the  gunners 
on  the  ships,  could  be  plainly  seen  from  the 
transports  with  the  naked  eye.  Late  in  the 
afternoon  preparations  were  completed  to  land 


122  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

the  troops,  and  about  5  o'clock,  P.M.,  they  began 
the  movement.  They  were  transferred  to  small 
boats,  and  long  strings  of  these,  one  behind  the 
other,  like  great  strings  of  beads,  were  towed 
by  small  steamers  to  within  a  short  distance  of 
Ashby's  Landing,  where,  after  a  comparatively 
short  row,  a  lodgment  was  effected  with  very 
little  trouble.  For  some  reason  or  other  very 
slight  opposition  was  met  with  here.  The  troops 
took  position  about  one  mile  inland,  forcing  in 
the  enemy's  pickets  and  establishing  their  own 
in  their  stead,  and  then  went  into  bivouac  for 
the  night.  At  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  even 
ing  the  Ninth  got  the  order  to  follow  the  others 
ashore,  and  dropping  into  the  boats  they  were 
soon  towed  to  the  landing  by  the  small  steamers. 
Few  civilians  realize  how  the  tramp  of  the 
many  feet  of  an  army  will  grind  the  damp  earth 
over  which  they  pass  into  a  mass  the  consist 
ency  of  mortar.  The  Ninth  being  among  the 
last  regiments  to  reach  the  shore,  found  the 
ground  over  which  the  other  troops  had  passed 
much  cut  up  and  actually  knee  deep  with  mud. 
The  short  distance  they  marched  from  landing 
to  bivouac  was  literally  waded.  The  troops 
were  then  quite  closely  massed  in  a  cornfield. 
Rain  began  falling  just  after  dark  and  continued 
heavily  all  night  The  campground  was  soon 
covered  with  pools  of  muddy  water.  Lying 


BIVOUAC  A  T  ASHB Y'S  LANDING.  1 23 

down  in  the  water  and  attempting  to  sleep  was 
out  of  the  question,  and  as  the  men  had  not  yet 
learned  to  sleep  in  a  standing  position,  there 
was  no  sleep.  Fires  were  built  and  the  boys 
gathered  around  them  shivering  and  melan 
choly. 

The  single  house  at  the  landing  had  been 
taken  possession  of  and  was  occupied  as  quar 
ters  by  the  generals  and  their  staffs,  with  as 
many  other  officers  of  rank  as  chose  to  leave 
their  regiments  or  could  be  accommodated  in 
it.  One  of  the  latter  afterward  wrote  home  of 
this  experience  as  follows : 

"  The.  generals  had  gone  up  garret  (there  were  no  rooms  up  there 
and  had  lain  down  on  the  floor  to  sleep.  After  an  hour  or  so  the  crowd 
of  officers  in  the  room  below  began  to  make  arrangements  to  pass  the 
night  as  comfortably  as  possible.  There  were,  of  course,  no  chairs  or 
other  accommodations  for  sitting  or  reclining,  and  the  hard  floor  was 
the  portion  of  those  who  sought  shelter  from  the  rain.  I  found  an  old 
friend  in  the  room  who  had  possession  of  a  bench  about  two  feet  long, 
which  he  invited  me  to  share  with  him,  so  we  sat  astride  of  it  facing 
each  other,  his  head  resting  on  my  right  shoulder,  his  shoulder  support 
ing  mine  in  the  same  way,  and  in  this  position  we  fell  asleep." 

The  house  at  Ashby's  Landing  gave  cold 
comfort  to  its  occupants  on  that  bleak  February 
night ;  yet  to  the  officers  and  men  who  clustered 
about  the  camp  fires  without  shelter  of  any  kind, 
the  sleeping  accommodations  of  those  two 
officers  on  the  bench  were  comparatively  lux 
urious.  The  night  was  filled  with  misery  even 
from  a  soldier's  standpoint.  Toward  morning 
fuel  became  scarce,  and  as  all  fences  in  the 


124    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

immediate  vicinity  had  been  appropriated  and 
consumed,  the  boys  took  turns  in  hunting  for 
and  bringing  in  anything  they  could  lay  their 
hands  on  with  which  to  replenish  the  fires. 
Many  a  provident  soldier  who  had  the  previous 
evening  secured  a  few  rails  and  arranged  them 
to  form  a  bed  which  would  keep  his  body  above 
the  water-soaked  ground,  was  cruelly  robbed 
of  them,  sometimes  by  sneak  thieves,  but  oftener 
by  the  use  of  moral  suasion  backed  by  a  power 
ful  right  arm. 

Some  of  the  men  had  provided  Colonel  Haw 
kins  with  a  resting  place  of  this  kind.  It  con 
sisted  of  three  split  rails  laid  side  by  side.  One 
end,  which  may  be  called  the  head,  was  elevated 
by  resting  it  on  a  pile  of  earth  dug  from  a  ditch 
bordering  the  field.  Colonel  Hawkins  lay  on 
these  rails  asleep,  covered  head  and  all  with  his 
red  blanket. 

Where  his  thoughts  on  the  pinions  of  fancy  shall  roam 
And  in  slumber  revisit  his  love  and  his  home. 

Sleep!  How  often,  ah!  how  often  have  ye 
brought  sweet  and  happy  dreams  on  the  eve  of 
battle!  How  often  calmed  the  anxieties  for  the 
fortunes  of  to-morrow. 

As  morning  approached  and  the  unfortunates, 
who  had  stood  about  the  fires  all  night,  saw  the 
dying  embers  deepen  from  red  to  black,  they 
began  to  prowl  about  in  a  more  desperate  search 


STEALING  THE  COLONEL'S  BED.  125 

for  fuel.  Many  wistful  glances  were  cast  at  the 
rails  upon  which  the  red  covered  figure  of  the 
Colonel  reposed.  Until  now  the  information 
"It  is  the  Colonel,"  would  send  the  raiders  off 
in  another  direction,  but  at  last  two  bold  spirits 
more  reckless  than  their  comrades,  approached 
the  sleeper,  walked  stealthily  around  him,  en 
acted  a  short  pantomine,  and  then — whisk! 
splash  ! — the  Colonel  lay  in  the  water  while  two 
soldiers  and  a  rail  disappeared  in  the  darkness. 
In  an  instant  the  Colonel  was  in  a  sitting  posi 
tion,  had  thrown  the  blanket  from  his  head,  and 
quickly  realizing  what  had  occurred,  remarked : 
"That  was  pretty  well  done!"  Then  quietly  ar 
ranging  his  two  remaining  rails,  again  sought 
slumber.  This  closed  the  incident,  and  the  two 
robbers  congratulated  themselves  on  their  dex 
terity  as  they  toasted  their  shins  beside  their 
replenished  fire. 

A  false  alarm  was  raised  just  before  day 
break.  Every  man  of  the  Ninth  sprang  to  his 
musket  with  an  alacrity  born  of  long  drills  and 
the  habit  of  the  thorough  soldier.  When  the 
uncertainty  was  over,  there  was  relaxation 
until  dawn,  when  the  troops  were  formed  in 
line  and  moved  to  the  front. 

General  Parke's  brigade,  to  which  the  Ninth 
was  attached,  was  held  in  reserve  on  the  left  of 
the  line,  and  the  Ninth  was  the  last  regiment  to 


126    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

leave  its  bivouac,  as  also  the  last  to  be  brought 
into  action.  There  was  but  one  road  on  this 
part  of  the  island,  and  this  ran  from  Ashby's 
Landing  in  a  northeasterly  direction  to  a  point 
more  than  half  way  across  to  the  other  shore, 
where  it  turned  abruptly  to  the  northwest  and 
led  across  a  swamp  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile 
wide.  A  structure  known  as  a  "  corduroy  road  " 
bridged  the  swamp  and  at  its  farther  edge  on 
the  solid  ground,  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile 
from  the  turn  of  the  road,  was  a  Confederate 
fort  or  earthwork  at  the  foot  of  which  was  a 
moat.  The  water  in  the  moat  was  on  a  level 
with  that  in  the  swamp.  The  earthwork  ex 
tended  completely  across  the  road  and  some 
distance  on  either  side,  its  flanks  being  pro 
tected  by  the  swamp.  It  had  but  one  face, 
being  simply  an  earthwork,  not  a  fort,  and 
mounted  three  guns.  The  trees  had  been  care 
fully  felled  in  the  front  of  the  work  from  the 
ditch  to  the  bend  in  the  road,  their  trunks 
toward  the  fort,  their  sharpened  branches 
toward  an  advancing  foe.  This  abatis  was  the 
full  width  of  the  earthwork  at  the  ditch  but 
became  gradually  wider  toward  the  turn  in  the 
road,  and  through  its  center  ran  the  corduroy 
causeway.  On  each  side  of  the  abatis  was  a 
veritable  jungle  of  trees,  thickets,  and  twisted 
vines  and  other  undergrowth,  while  the  swamp 


GOING  INTO  ACTION.  127 

itself  was  a  mass  of  mud  and  slime,  sometimes 
knee  deep,  sometimes  waist  deep,  with  here  and 
there  a  hump  of  tangled  grass  or  the  roots  of  a 
thicket  projecting,  the  whole  bottom  covered 
with  several  inches  of  water. 

Official  reports  show  that  General  Foster 
commenced  the  attack  about  8  o'clock,  A.  M., 
with  six  Dahlgren  boat  howitzers.  These  were 
supported  by  the  2ist  Massachusetts,  Colonel 
Upton,  which  in  turn  was  supported  by  the  23rd 
Massachusetts.  When  the  remainder  of  the 
brigade  reached  the  field  the  23rd  and  2yth 
Massachusetts  with  the  loth  Connecticut  were 
ordered  into  the  swamp  on  the  right  to  strike 
the  enemy's  left  flank.  On  General  Reno's 
arrival  he  sent  word  to  Foster  that  his  brigade 
would  penetrate  the  dense  woods  on  the  left 
and  endeavor  to  turn  the  right  flank  of  the 
enemy.  This  was  a  most  difficult  task,  owing 
to  the  natural  obstacles  to  be  overcome,  in 
addition  to  the  resistance  offered  by  the  enemy. 
The  action  had  been  progressing  some  time 
before  Parke's  brigade  was  ordered  from  its 
bivouac.  Before  reaching  the  bend  the  road 
was  narrow  and  bordered  by  dense  thickets 
and  swamps.  It  was  badly  cut  up  and  trampled 
by  the  march  of  the  preceding  troops,  and  that, 
and  the  heavy  rain  of  the  preceding  night  had 
made  it  little  better  than  a  wide  ditch  of  mud 


128   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

and  water.  Still  it  was  the  only  means  of 
passage  through  the  thickets,  and  the  soldiers 
laboriously  slipped  and  struggled  on,  always 
hoping  for  a  better  road  beyond. 

Only  men  who  have  never  been  in  action 
before  can  thoroughly  realize  the  carnage  and 
horrors  of  a  battlefield.  While  the  gth  Regiment 
had  been  in  the  field  about  eight  months,  and 
during  that  time  had  seen  some  active  service, 
still  many  of  the  men  never  saw  a  wounded 
man,  and  they  were  very  naturally  horror- 
stricken  when  they  now  saw  scores  of  their 
comrades  carried  off  the  field,  many  of  them  in 
the  agonies  of  death.  It  is  far  different  with 
the  veteran  of  many  battles,  to  whom  such 
scenes  have  become  familiar.  In  the  heat  and 
roar  of  the  sanguinary  conflict  he  retains  all  his 
coolness,  looking  upon  the  terrible  scenes 
around  him  as  a  matter  of  course.  He  is  like 
the  "  Old  Continental,"  who,  when  preparing  to 
charge  the  enemy,  would  hum  the  tune: 

"  Why  soldiers,  why,  should  we  be  melancholy,  boys  ? 
Whose  business  is  to  die — let  us  be  jolly,  boys  !  " 

But  the  veterans  are  apt  to  forget  their  own 
first  battle  and  to  become  impatient  at  the  evi 
dence  of  fear  which  so  naturally  appears  among 
inexperienced  troops,  many  of  the  most  ner 
vous  of  whom,  however,  become  in  a  short  time 
the  very  best  and  bravest  of  soldiers. 


DISPIRITING  SIGHTS  AND  SOUNDS.  1 29 

This  was  well  exemplified  in  the  experience 
of  the  men  in  this  regiment.  While  they  were 
moving  along  the  narrow  road  toward  the 
point  where  the  battle  was  being  fought  — 
which  was  the  only  inlet  to  the  scene  of  action, 
as  it  was  the  only  outlet  for  the  wounded  - 
momentarily  expecting  to  be  engaged  in  the 
conflict,  they  met  great  numbers  of  wounded 
men,  some  being  carried  on  stretchers,  some 
assisting  each  other  as  best  they  could,  while 
others  moved  along  unaided. 

This  melancholy  column  which  seemed  to 
have  no  end,  contained  men  with  wounds  of 
every  character  and  degree  of  severity.  As  the 
maimed  and  injured  were  so  very  close  at  hand 
the  nature  of  their  wounds  were  plainly  visible 
to  all.  Some  poor  fellows  lay  still  and  death 
like  on  the  stretcher.  Some  with  naked  breasts 
showed  how  hurried  had  been  the  surgeon's 
search  to  establish  the  location  of  a  bullet- 
wound  or  to  staunch  a  hemorrhage.  On  many 
were  hastily  noted  the  little  round  blue  hole, 
with  its  darker  center,  the  cause  of  which  every 
soldier,  as  well  as  surgeon,  knew  so  well. 

This  was  certainly  a  ghastly  spectacle  and  of 
anything  but  an  inspiring  character  to  be  wit 
nessed  by  the  men.  It  was  a  sight  intensely 
trying,  and  a  graphic  object  lesson,  showing  viv 
idly  what  they  themselves  might  expect  to  im- 


13O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

mediately  encounter.  Added  to  this  was  the 
ratling  volleys  of  musketry,  occasionally  rising 
into  a  steady  roar,  punctuated  by  the  crashing 
explosions  of  the  big  guns  of  the  enemy  and 
the  spiteful  barking  of  the  boat  howitzers  op 
posed  to  them.  Now  and  again  the  deep- 
chested  cheer  of  the  northern  soldiers  or  the 
shrill  rebel  yell  would  be  heard  as  one  or  the 
other  of  the  combatants  gained  a  real  or  im 
aginary  advantage.  No  wonder  some  were 
unnerved  and  turned  pale  at  the  saddening 
sights  and  the  nerve-shaking  sounds,  and  it  is 
only  fair  and  honorable  to  acknowledge  that 
many  a  face  was  blanched,  and  many  a  good 
and  true  man  in  the  ranks  would  have  been 
glad  indeed  to  have  honorably  avoided  the 
coming  battle. 

Major  Kimball,  whose  position  in  line  brought 
him  in  more  direct  contact  with  the  men  than 
any  of  the  other  officers,  was  quick  to  perceive 
the  effect  produced  on  these  boys  whom  he 
had  hoped  to  see  go  into  the  engagement  with 
a  sort  of  triumphant  hurrah.  He  did  his  best 
to  counteract  the  effect  which  the  sights  just 
detailed  produced.  He  tried  to  raise  the  spirits 
of  the  men  by  pretending  to  belittle  the  spec 
tacle,  saying  it  was  merely  a  necessary  incident 
of  the  battle ;  that  it  did  not  amount  to  any 
thing  any  way ;  that  there  were  not  many 


MAJOR  KI MB  ALL'S  EXHOR  TA  TION.  1 3 1 

wounded  as  compared  with  what  he  had  ex 
pected  to  see,  judging  from  the  amount  of  firing 
and  noise  at  the  front ;  told  them  how  his  old 
regiment  had  fought  in  the  Mexican  War,  and 
related  acts  of  gallantry  and  heroism  performed 
by  its  members,  which  he  exhorted  them  to 
emulate,  and  reminded  them  that  they  were 
about  being  called  upon  to  uphold  the  honor  of 
their  country  and  their  regiment,  and  to  remem 
ber  that  they  were  American  soldiers  and  to 
behave  accordingly. 

This  lesson  had,  without  doubt,  a  good  effect 
on  the  boys  that  heard  it.  The  gallant  conduct 
of  the  regiment  that  day  as  a  whole,  showed 
that  the  depressing  effect  of  the  sights  and 
sounds,  on  the  fringe  of  the  battle,  had  only  a 
temporary  effect.  Their  conduct  in  the  fight 
earned  for  them  the  unstinted  commendation 
of  their  commanding  officers,  while  the  soldiers 
of  the  other  regiments  expressed  their  apprecia 
tion  of  the  conduct  of  the  Zouaves  by  receiving 
them  with  cheers  whenever  one  appeared  among 
them,  showering  words  of  commendation  and 
congratulation  upon  them  without  stint. 

When  the  regiment  arrived  at  the  bend  in 
the  road  where  the  clearing  in  front  of  the  rebel 
battery  began,  there  were  no  bodies  of  troops 
visible  other  than  of  their  own  brigade  on  the 
road,  and  what  seemed  like  a  regiment  some 


132   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

distance  towards  their  right,  lying  down,  al 
though  between,  and  among  the  trees  on  the 
left,  men  could  be  seen  both  singly  and  in 
squads,  and  heavy  musketry  firing  could  be 
heard  in  the  woods  on  both  left  and  right  of 
the  road.  There  was  now  nothing  to  obstruct 
the  view  between  the  Ninth  and  the  rebel  fort 
which  was  in  plain  sight. 

The  six  Dahlgrens  were  "  in  battery  "  at  the 
bend  in  the  road,  but  were  not  at  the  time  in 
action.  They  had  apparently  been  silenced. 
The  bodies  of  several  dead  sailors  lay  around 
them,  but  no  living  sailor  was  in  sight  save  one, 
an  officer,  who,  with  folded  arms,  was  leaning 
on  a  howitzer,  gazing  at  the  fort. 

General  Foster  with  several  aids  stood  in 
open  ground,  apparently  directing  the  move 
ment  of  the  troops,  being  concealed  from  the 
enemy's  view  by  a  small  thicket. 

As  Reno's  advance  had  left  the  road  clear, 
Parke's  brigade  was  ordered  by  Foster  to  move 
directly  forward  in  support  of  the  23d  and  2yth 
Massachusetts,  which  were  then  engaged  in 
turning  the  enemy's  left. 

The  4th  Rhode  Island  was  in  advance,  on 
the  right  of  the  brigade.  To  reach  the  Massa 
chusetts  troops  it  was  necessary  to  leave  the 
road  at  the  turn,  which  was  in  the  open  ground, 
cross  the  rest  of  the  cleared  strip  of  swamp  in 


THE  ORDER  TO  CHARGE.  133 

front  of  the  fort,  and  move  into  the  thick  woods 
beyond.  The  leading  company  of  the  Ninth 
and  part  of  the  second  one  had  left  the  road 
and  were  working  their  way  through  the  vines 
and  thickets  of  the  swamp  when  some  one 
halted  the  regiment.  The  center  and  part  of  the 
right  wing  was  in  the  open  ground  in  front  of 
the  fort,  and  could  distinctly  see  the  movement 
of  the  men  at  the  guns. 

When  the  halt  was  made  word  was  passed 
forward  for  Colonel  Hawkins,  who  was  at  the 
head  of  the  regiment,  to  come  back,  but  before 
he  had  time  to  do  so,  Kimball  ran  to  where 
Foster  stood  to  take  any  order  he  had  to  give. 
Whatever  conversation  occurred  was  quickly 
over,  and  Kimball,  jerking  off  his  overcoat,  threw 
it  from  him,  and  drawing  his  sword,  flourished 
it  around  his  head  and  shouted  with  the  full 
force  of  his  lungs:  "  Now,  boys,  follow  your  old 
Major — -Charge!"  When  this  order  was  given 
there  was  a  grand  simultaneous  rush  toward  the 
enemy,  and  the  men  who  had  the  best  ground 
to  travel  on  were  farthest  to  the  front.  There 
was  no  possibility  of  preserving  company  for 
mation  in  this  mad  plunge  and  struggle,  through 
swamps  and  abatis,  over  stumps  and  logs. 

To  enable  the  reader  to  clearly  understand 
the  situation  of  affairs  on  the  battleground  at 
the  moment  the  Ninth  New  York  was  halted, 


134   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

and  the  word  passed  to  the  front  for  Colonel 
Hawkins,  as  above  stated,  reference  is  made  to 
the  official  map  of  the  battle,  issued  by  authority 
of  the  War  Department,  in  which  the  location 
of  each  of  the  regiments  engaged  is  given,  with 
distances  from  point  to  point,  nature  of  the 
ground,  and  all  other  data  necessary  to  give  a 
clear  conception  of  the  plan  of  battle  and  the 
disposition  of  the  Union  forces. 

The  map  shows  the  road  over  which  the 
troops  advanced  as  running  in  a  general  north 
east  direction  to  the  edge  of  the  swamp,  where 
it  made  a  sharp  turn  -  -  nearly  a  right  angle  - 
towards  the  northwest  and  continuing  in  that 
direction  to  the  ditch  in  front  of  the  battery,  a 
distance  of  about  one  thousand  feet  from  the 
bend  of  the  road.  The  battery  had  a  front  of 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  was  crescent 
shaped  and  mounted  three  guns.  The  troops 
in  position  on  the  right  of  the  road,  operating 
against  the  enemy's  left,  were  in  the  order  named 
from  right  to  left:  the  23d  Massachusetts,  the  2jih 
Massachusetts,  the  5ist  Pennsylvania,  the  loth 
Connecticut,  and  in  the  rear  of  that  regiment 
the  25th  Massachusetts,  which  had  exhaust 
ed  its  amunition  and  had  been  relieved  by 
the  loth  Connecticut.  Some  distance  in  front 
of  the  loth  Connecticut,  very  near  the  bend 
in  the  road,  was  the  battery  of  boat  howitzers. 


DISPOSITION  OF  THE  TROOPS.  135 

On  the  left  of  the  causeway,  operating  against 
the  enemy's  right,  and  in  the  order  named 
from  left  to  right  were  Companies  A,  G,  D 
and  I  of  the  5ist  New  York,  then  the  2ist 
Massachusetts,  and  behind  it  the  remaining 
companies  of  the  5ist  New  York,  while  on 
the  right  of  the  2ist  Massachusetts  was  the 
9th  New  Jersey.  The  general  form  of  the  line 
approached  that  of  the  letter  V,  with  the  point 
formed  by  the  25th  Massachusetts  and  loth 
Connecticut  somewhat  flattened.  The  road  en 
tered  the  V  and  turned  toward  the  battery 
between  the  loth  Connecticut  and  Qth  New 
Jersey.  There  were  detachments  of  rebel  in 
fantry  on  each  flank  of  the  battery.  The  arms 
of  the  V  were  each  about  twelve  hundred  feet 
long  and  they  extended  so  far  toward  the  front 
that  the  head  of  each  reached  a  point  nearly,  if 
not  fully,  on  a  line  with  the  battery  and  distant 
from  its  flanks  about  three  hundred  and  three 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  respectively. 

The  Ninth  had  marched  into  the  lower  end 
of  the  V,  which  brought  the  25th  Massachusetts 
and  loth  Connecticut  on  their  right  hand, 
and  the  enemy's  battery  on  their  left.  The 
regiment  had  continued  straight  ahead  when 
the  bend  in  the  road  was  reached,  and  conse 
quently  the  head  of  the  column,  or  right  of  the 
regiment,  had  left  it  at  that  point  and  plunged 


136   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

into  the  swamp,  following  its  leading  regiment, 
the  4th  Rhode  Island,  in  obedience  to  the  orders 
to  get  on  the  left  flank  of  the  battery.  The 
company  on  the  right  and  a  few  files  at 
the  head  of  the  one  following  it,  was  the  only 
portion  of  the  command  that  had  abandoned 
the  road  when  the  halt  was  ordered  and  word 
passed  to  the  front  that  Colonel  Hawkins  was 
wanted  by  some  one  in  authority ;  presumably 
General  Foster. 

The  left  wing  of  the  regiment  had  not  yet 
emerged  from  the  woods  into  the  open  space  in 
front  of  the  work  where  the  timber  had  been 
felled,  and  which  was  only  little  more  in  width 
than  the  face  of  the  battery  itself,  say,  two  hun 
dred  feet,  therefore,  only  a  few  of  the  companies 
were  then  visible  to  the  rebels  or  exposed  to 
their  fire. 

All  the  other  regiments,  as  above  named,  ex 
cept  the  25th  Massachusetts,  which  had  been 
withdrawn,  and  part  of  the  loth  Connecticut, 
which  was  on  dry  ground,  were  struggling  as 
best  they  could  through  the  mire  and  amidst 
the  dense  vegetation  of  a  North  Carolina 
swamp,  with  the  water,  mud  and  ooze  in  no 
place  less  than  knee  deep,  and  in  many  places 
fully  waist  deep,  with  the  view,  beyond  the  dis 
tance  of  a  few  feet,  shut  off  entirely,  and  all 
progress  rendered  almost  impossible  by  nearly 


DIFFICUL  TIES  ENCOUNTERED.  1 37 

impenetrable  thickets  of  laurel,  briers  and  cling 
ing  vines  and  the  many  other  luxuriant  growths 
of  an  almost  semi-tropical  jungle.  It  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  in  the  limited  space  into 
which  the  attacking  force  was  crowded — several 
thousand  men  being  obliged  to  operate  and 
manoeuver  in  an  area  in  which  two,  or,  at  the 
most,  three  regiments  would  have  been  amply 
sufficient  to  cover  properly — the  different  com 
mands  must  of  necessity  have  overlapped  each 
other  greatly.  The  regiments,  with  the  ex 
ception  of  the  Ninth  New  York,  were  all  en 
tirely  new  ones.  They  had  only  a  short  time 
before  arrived  from  Annapolis,  where  they  had 
been  gathered  together  to  form  the  Burnside 
Expedition ;  had  never  before  seen  any  active 
service,  in  fact  most  of  them  had  but  a  very 
limited  knowledge  of  drill,  and  they  were  now, 
if  we  except  the  short  sojourn  on  Hatteras, 
getting  their  first  experience  on  the  soil  of 
the  Southern  Confederacy.  These  men  were 
crowded  into  the  swamp,  regiment  after  regi 
ment,  until  the  various  organizations  were 
merged  in  a  crowd  or  mob.  From  the  nature  of 
the  surroundings,  being  unable  to  see  what  was 
going  on  about  them,  being  deprived  of  the  ex 
ample  and  of  the  controlling  influence  of  their 
officers,  by  reason  of  being  generally  hidden 
from  their  view  by  the  thick  foliage  of  the 


138    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

swamp,  the  men  were  obliged  to  act  individ 
ually,  and  as  is  to  be  expected  under  such  cir 
cumstances,  it  was  only  the  best  men  among 
them,  those  strongly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
duty  and  patriotism  —  and  there  were  many 
such --who  succeeded  in  struggling  forward  to 
a  position  from  which  they  could  occasionally 
get  a  glimpse  of  the  enemy  through  the  inter 
vening  trees  and  underbrush,  and  actually  join 
in  the  battle. 

When  the  Ninth  received  the  order  to  charge, 
the  companies  which  were  in  the  open  ground 
immediately  changed  direction  by  the  left  flank 
and  rushed  directly  toward  the  battery,  through 
the  abatis  and  along  the  corduroy  road,  the 
other  companies  pouring  in  behind  them.  The 
right  flank  company,  which  was  already  among 
the  tangled  thickets  of  the  swamp,  retracing  the 
few  steps  necessary  to  regain  the  road,  and 
joining  in  the  movement.  In  an  instant  the 
whole  width  of  the  cleared  space  in  front  of 
the  battery  was  filled  with  a  mass  of  rushing 
Zouaves,  and  the  air  resounded  with  their 
shouts.  The  enemy  at  once  opened  fire  with 
his  artillery,  which  had  been  silent  for  a  few 
minutes,  and  seemed  to  redouble  that  of  his 
musketry.  From  the  manner  in  which  the 
regiment  doubled  on  itself — if  the  use  of  the 
term  may  be  permitted — when  the  first  rush 


COLONEL  DE  MONTEIL  KILLED.  139 

was  made,  the  right  center  becoming  the  front, 
and  the  men  toward  the  right  of  that  front 
having  the  advantage  of  the  firm  footing  of  the 
road  and  being  able  to  maintain  their  advanced 
position  throughout,  the  colors  of  the  regiment 
had  no  opportunity  to,  and  did  not  succeed  in 
getting  to  the  front  at  any  time  during  the 
charge,  and,  therefore,  were  not  with  those  men 
who  first  gained  the  parapet  of  the  fort. 

When  the  Zouaves  had  covered  about  one- 
half  the  distance  to  the  works  the  enemy 
succeeded  in  checking  their  advance  for  a 
moment.  There  was  a  temporary  halt,  Kimball 
had  disappeared  for  an  instant,  stumbled  into  a 
bog-hole  it  was  said,  and  some  of  the  men 
began  firing.  The  enemy's  musketry  fire  was 
sharp  and  effective.  The  artillery  fire  was  wild 
and  high  however,  and  the  only  effect  it  pro 
duced  was  to  shower  down  leaves  and  branches 
from  the  trees  on  the  heads  of  the  men  beneath. 
A  few  men  fell  here — not  many,  but  as  they  fell 
and  lay  they  looked  to  the  others  like  a  great 
many.  Lieut-Colonel  DeMonteil  was  killed 
here.  He  was  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the 
D'Epaneuil  Zouaves,  and  had  marched  into  the 
engagement  with  Colonel  Hawkins  at  the  head 
of  the  Ninth,  as  a  volunteer  carrying  a  carbine. 
At  the  moment  of  the  check  in  the  advance  he 
had  leaped  on  the  trunk  of  a  fallen  tree  and 


14O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

striding  back  and  forth,  shouted :  "  Do  not  dis 
charge  ze  cartridge,  my  children!  Forward  wiz 
ze  bayonet!  Forward  wiz  ze  bayonet!  Charge, 
mes  en/ants  !  "  and  other  exhortations  of  a  like 
character,  when  he  suddenly  plunged  forward 
into  the  water  beneath  him,  killed  as  quickly  as 
though  struck  by  lightning. 

His  reckless  courage  was  most  marked  and 
attracted  the  attention  and  excited  the  admira 
tion  of  all  who  saw  him.  No  man  ever  died 
more  bravely. 

The  reports  in  relation  to  his  identity  and 
antecedents,  which  at  the  time  and  subsequently, 
gained  currency  among  the  soldiers  of  the 
Ninth,  and  which,  although  not  confirmed  from 
any  responsible  source,  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt,  were  to  the  effect  that  he  was  a  major  in 
the  Marine  Service  of  France  and  had  procured 
leave  of  absence,  or  permission  from  his  govern 
ment,  to  come  to  the  United  States  for  the 
purpose  of  entering  the  military  service  and 
taking  part  in  the  war.  His  body  was  sent 
north  by  Colonel  Hawkins,  consigned  to  the 
care  of  some  of  his — Colonel  H's--  friends 
in  New  York,  who  honored  it  with  a  soldier's 
burial  in  Greenwood  Cemetery,  and  raised  a 
fitting  monument  over  the  grave. 

Among  the  men  who  were  hit  here  about  the 
time  Lieut-Colonel  DeMonteil  was  killed,  were 


A  TEMPORARY  CHECK.  141 

Snow  and  Donovan,  of  Company  A,  the  latter 
very  seriously;  Lieut.  Geo.  W.  Debevoise  of 
the  same  company,  who  was  disabled  for  duty 
for  several  months;  Scannel,  of  Company  K, 
mortally,  and  others  whose  names  cannot  now 
be  recalled.  Captain  Jardine,  of  Company  G, 
and  Captain  Graham  of  Company  A,  were  both 
in  the  front  rank,  and  each  seized  muskets  from 
the  men  crouched  near  them  and  fired  into  the 
middle  embrasure  of  the  fort,  where  the  enemy 
could  be  seen  at  work  at  their  guns.  Each  of 
the  officers  named  fired  two  or  three  shots. 

As  said  before,  the  check  was  only  momentary. 
Some  one  shouted:  "What's  the  matter  here? 
Forward!"  and  the  cry  of  " Forward  the  Ninth! 

Forward,  Company !"  was  raised  by  the 

officers  at  the  front.  The  men  responded 
instantly  and  dashed  forward,  that  is  some  of 
them  did,  those  on  the  road.  The  others 
struggled  and  wallowed  in  the  same  direction. 
Struggled  through  the  abatis  and  wallowed 
through  the  deep  swamp  mud.  Soon  after 
this  second  rush  had  fairly  begun  the  fire  from 
the  fort  began  to  slacken,  and  by  the  time  the 
advance  had  reached  the  moat  it  had  ceased 
altogether.  The  men  swarmed  over  the  para 
pet  and  through  the  embrasures  and  the  battle 
of  Roanoke  Island  was  won. 

From   the  instant  the  order   to    charge   was 


142   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

given,  in  fact,  from  the  time  the  regiment  first 
arrived  on  the  ground,  until  the  men  began 
to  pour  over  the  works,  not  more  than  five 
minutes  had  elapsed. 

A  small  flag  of  the  enemy's,  apparently  a 
presentation  flag,  as  it  had  a  deep  bullion  fringe 
and  was  handsomely  mounted,  was  flying  inside 
the  works  and  some  of  those  who  first  sprang 
into  the  fort  made  a  rush  to  secure  it.  Private 
Caster,  of  Company  C,  was  the  successful  one 
and  after  a  struggle  tore  it  from  the  staff  and 
concealed  it  inside  his  blouse.  The  staff  was 
broken  in  the  melee  and  the  metal  plate,  bearing 
a  presentation  inscription,  was  secured  by  an 
other  of  the  boys,  who  cannot  now  be  iden 
tified.  Caster  retained  possession  of  this  flag 
until  his  death,  when  it  became  the  property 
of  John  Hassall,  Caster's  friend  and  intimate 
associate  before  and  after  the  war,  and  his  tent- 
mate  and  bunkie  during  the  service.  He  still 
has  the  flag  in  his  possession. 

The  advance  of  the  regiment  had  barely 
reached  the  inside  of  the  works,  in  fact  the  main 
body  of  the  regiment  was  still  pouring  in  over 
the  parapet,  when  scattered  bodies  of  troops 
emerged  from  the  swamp  and  woods  on  the 
right,  followed  directly  by  their  main  body,  and 
entered  the  works  from  that  direction.  Almost 
at  the  same  instant  the  soldiers  who  had  been 


HOW  THE  TROOPS  CAME  IN.  148 

operating  on  the  right  appeared  around  the  left 
of  the  work,  and  in  a  moment  what  might  be 
called  a  river  of  men  swarmed  in  from  both 
directions. 

These  troops  which  had  been  working  their 
way  forward  against  either  flank  of  the  enemy 
were  well  advanced  to  positions  very  near  the 
fort  when  General  Foster  ordered  the  Ninth  to 
charge,  and  they  had  seized  the  proper  moment 
to  make  the  final  rush;  therefore,  they  arrived 
in  the  battery  almost  at  the  same  moment  and 
nearly  simultaneous  with  the  Ninth,  although 
they  came  around  the  flanks  of  the  works — not 
over  the  ditch  and  parapet.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  the  troops  which  came  toward  the  right 
of  the  battery  had  their  colors  at  their  front 
when  they  emerged  from  the  swamp,  and 
planted  them  on  the  parapet  before  the  color- 
bearers  of  the  Ninth,  who,  from  the  nature  of 
the  ground,  and  the  way  in  which  the  regiment 
doubled  on  itself  when  the  charge  began  - 
which  prevented  them  from  getting  near  the 
front  during  its  continuance — could  pass  their's 
up  over  the  ditch  to  their  comrades  on  the 
parapet.  The  men  of  the  Ninth,  who  consid 
ered  themselves  veterans  as  compared  with  the 
other  regiments,  were  not  slow  in  according  to 
each  of  them  full  credit  for  their  resolute  conduct 
during  the  battle.  They  had  been  exposed  for 


1  44  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

hours  to  a  galling  and  destructive  fire  from  an 
entrenched  and  unseen  foe,  and  their  losses 
more  eloquently  than  words,  tell  of  their 
bravery  and  firmness  throughout  the  trying 
ordeal. 

This  meager  account  of  the  charge  of  the  gth 
New  York  at  the  battle  of  Roanoke  Island  is 
due  solely  to  the  fact  that  it  is  restricted  to 
incidents  which  occurred  under  the  immediate 
observation  of  the  writer  and  as  his  opportuni 
ties  for  observation  were  limited  the  narative 
must  necessarily  be  so  also.  No  doubt  many 
stirring  incidents  and  acts  of  gallantry  occurred, 
which  he  would  have  proudly  recorded  had  he 
witnessed  them,  but  his  field  of  observation 
was  very  limited  just  then. 

The  men  of  the  Ninth  who  were  first  in  the 
enemy's  works,  who  had  secured  and  main 
tained  a  leading  position  in  the  charge  and  had 
arrived  on  the  parapet  in  advance  of  their 
comrades,  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  viewing  an 
awe-inspiring  spectacle,  namely,  the  charging 
regiment  of  a  thousand  men  sweeping  toward 
them  like  an  irresistible  torrent,  their  eyes 
aflame  with  passion  and  faces  distorted  by  the 
tigerish  instinct  and  the  desire  to  kill,  aroused 
by  the  sight  of  their  slain  and  wounded 
comrades. 

Soldiers    often    discuss    among    themselves 


WHY  ASS  A  UL  TS  ARE  SUCCESSFUL.  1  45 

the  whys  and  wherefores  of  victory  or  defeat, 
and  the  reasons  why  troops  behind  earthworks 
protected  by  a  shoulder-high  parapet  and  a 
wide  and  deep  ditch,  will  permit  themselves  to 
be  dislodged  by  others  from  the  outside,  who 
must,  in  order  to  do  so,  overcome  the  obstacles 
in  front  of  the  works,  wade  the  ditch  and  climb 
the  steep  face  of  the  parapet  in  the  face  of  the 
fire,  and  opposed  by  the  bayonets  of  the  de 
fenders.  To  these  men  of  the  Ninth  who,  on 
this  occasion,  gained  the  parapet  in  advance  of 
the  mass  of  the  regiment,  and  had  one  back 
ward  glance  at  the  rushing,  shouting  torrent  of 
savage  humanity  below  them,  it  was  no  longer 
a  mystery.  The  appearance  of  this  seemingly 
irresistible  wave  of  maddened  men  rushing 
toward  them  seems  to  strike  terror  into  the  de 
fenders,  and  hope  of  successful  resistance  is 
abandoned  and  they  fly — Sauve  qui  pent — with 
out  waiting  for  the  real  struggle  to  begin. 

This  scattered  few  of  the  Ninth  who  first 
mounted  the  parapet  (not  separated  from  the 
regiment  at  all,  simply  the  first)  were  from 
several  companies.  They  arrived  in  time  to 
see  the  last  of  the  rebel  defenders  disappearing 
among  the  trees  towards  their  rear.  During 
the  minute  that  elapsed  before  the  reforming 
of  the  regiment  began,  they  had  time  to  notice 
that  this  place,  which  for  several  hours  had 


146    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

been  the  center  of  a  maelstrom  of  bullets  and 
shells  and  struggling  men,  was  just  then 
singularly  quiet  and  peaceful  like.  A  few  dead 
men  lay  near  the  guns,  one  lying  on  his  back 
beside  the  big  Dahlgren  with  the  lanyard  still 
in  his  hand. 

As  the  regiment  ijioved  out  of  the  place  a 
few  moments  afterward,  a  number  of  others 
were  seen  just  outside  the  \vork  all  decently 
arranged  in  rows. 

Charles  Curie,  of  Company  C,  who  was  one 
of  the  group  which  first  reached  the  parapet, 
relates  that  as  he  lingered  for  an  instant  to 
catch  a  general  view  of  the  situation,  before 
joining  with  the  others  of  his  company — who 
were  rapidly  arriving — in  reforming  it,  his 
attention  was  attracted  by  a  body  of  soldiers 
emerging  from  the  swamp  on  the  right  of  the 
battery  and  a  little  in  rear  of  it.  They  appeared 
to  be  from  two  different  organizations,  each 
had  a  flag,  one  a  white  State  ensign,  and  the 
other  a  United  States  regimental  color.  There 
appeared  to  be  about  a  company  of  each.  They 
were  close  together  and  Curie's  attention  was 
specially  arrested  by  the  way  in  which  they 
advanced  out  of  the  thickets.  Instead  of  rush 
ing  forward,  as  might  be  expected,  each  one  ap 
peared  to  be  wholly  engrossed  in  a  strained 
effort  to  maintain  a  correct  alignment,  their 


WHA T  CURIE  SAW.  147 

officers  being  active  in  their  efforts  to  preserve 
an  imposing  front.  When  they  saw  the  fort 
and  the  situation,  each  of  the  color  bearers,  with 
several  others,  ran  directly  toward  the  parapet, 
evidently  breaking  away  from  the  control  of 
their  officers,  and  each  planted  his  flag  on  the 
work  at  about  the  same  moment.  At  the  same 
instant  another  and  larger  group  separated 
from  both  bodies  and  rushed  to  the  flagstaff 
of  the  fort,  which  \vas  at  least  fifty  paces  in 
rear  of  the  guns,  and  hauled  down  the  rebel 
flag  which  the  enemy  in  their  sudden  flight 
had  left  flying,  and  struggled  fiercely  among 
themselves  for  possession  of  it.  All  these 
occurrences  took  place  in  an  instant.  They 
flashed  into  view  and  became  sensible  to  the 
eye  like  an  instantaneous  photograph.  While 
chagrin  at  the  loss  of  this  opportunity  was  still 
in  a  nebulous  shape  in  his  mind,  and  a  deter 
mination  was  forming  to  take  a  hand  in  the 
fight  for  the  rebel  flag,  Corporal  Latham  A. 
Fish,  of  his  company,  directed  him  to  "fall  in," 
and  Curie  took  his  place  in  the  ranks  and  in  a 
few  moments,  with  the  rest  of  the  regiment, 
was  moving  up  the  road  in  pursuit  of  the 
enemy. 

There  was  very  little  delay  in  resuming  the 
advance  after  the  place  had  been  taken.  All 
of  the  enemy  had  disappeared  except  such  as 


148    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

were  too  badly  wounded  to  get  away  un 
assisted.  The  various  companies  were  im 
mediately  reformed  by  their  respective  first- 
sergeants  and  without  an  instant's  delay 
pushed  forward  in  pursuit  of  the  rapidly  re 
treating  enemy.  In  the  plan  of  the  defenses  of 
the  island,  this  battery  (Fort  Defiance)  was  the 
key,  and  when  captured  it  permitted  the  other 
forts  to  be  attacked  from  the  rear,  when,  with 
the  fleet  in  front,  and  the  infantry  well  posted 
in  the  rear,  further  resistance  was  useless  and 
nothing  remained  for  the  garrisons  but  to 
surrender. 

The  " Ninth"  was  sent  to  the  right  of  the 
road  by  General  Reno,  and  succeeded  in  cap 
turing  a  number  of  prisoners  who  were  endeav 
oring  to  escape  through  Shallow  Bag  Bay, 
among  them  being  Capt.  O.  Jennings  Wise,  a 
son  of  Governor  Wise,  of  Virginia.  He  was 
very  severely  wounded  and  died  from  the 
effects  next  day. 

Early  in  the  evening  of  his  capture,  after  his 
wounds  had  been  dressed  by  Assistant  Surgeon 
White,  he  was  taken  to  the  house  of  a  Mr. 
Jarvis,  which  was  being  used  for  a  hospital  and 
near  which  the  regiment  was  in  bivouac,  and 
while  being  carried  past  the  men  who  had 
pressed  forward  to  look  at  him,  he  extended 
his  hand,  in  a  gesture,  toward  them  and  said: 


CAPTAIN  WIS&S  OPINION.  1  49 

"You  are  the  only  men  who  fought  to-day." 
Afterward,  just  before  his  death,  while  in  con 
versation  with  Major  Kimball,  he  stated  that  in 
his  opinion  the  battery  could  have  defied  all  the 
troops  on  the  island  for  days,  had  the  fighting 
against  it  been  continued  in  the  same  manner 
in  which  it  was  carried  on  during  the  morning, 
or  until  the  arrival  of  the  "Red  Caps,"  as  he 
designated  them.  He  said  that  at  the  begin 
ning  of  the  charge  he  thought  the  regiment 
had  been  utterly  annihilated  by  the  grape  and 
canister  when  the  men  threw  themselves  on 
the  ground,  when  the  artillery  first  opened  on 
them,  but  when  they  again  sprang  to  their  feet 
and  rushed  forward  with  yells,  their  men  fled 
more  frightened  than  hurt.  "We  were  actually 
scared  from  our  position,"  he  said. 

The  other  troops  pushed  on  rapidly  up  the 
road  and  captured  the  main  camp  of  the  enemy 
with  a  large  number  of  men,  then  dividing 
into  detachments  they  moved  on  the  other  three 
forts  which  were  still  engaging  the  gunboats, 
and  demanded  their  surrender,  \vhich  was 
acceded  to. 

Long  before  nightfall  all  firing  had  ceased. 
The  forts  on  the  Roanoke  Sound  side  of  the 
island  had  surrendered  ;  the  various  bodies  of 
the  enemy's  troops  had  thrown  down  their 
arms  and  been  placed  under  guard,  and  the 
victorious  troops  went  into  bivouac. 


150  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

There  was  a  saying  among  soldiers  during 
the  war  which  was  to  the  effect  "  That  nothing- 
is  easier  than  to  show  how  to  win  a  battle  that 
has  just  been  lost."  This  was  as  true  of  the 
battle  of  Roanoke  Island  as  of  any  of  the  others 
fought  during  the  Rebellion.  When  it  was 
learned  that  the  prisoners  taken  numbered  sev 
eral  thousand,  it  seemed  unexplainable  why  the 
enemy  had  not  brought  them  all  into  action 
and  utilized  them  at  and  near  the  interior  bat 
tery  to  defend  that  place.  Had  they  done  so  it 
would  seem  they  could  easily  have  prevented 
the  Union  troops  from  crossing  the  swamp 
at  all,  which  it  was  afterward  discovered  ex 
tended  clear  across  the  island  from  one  shore 
to  the  other,  and  was  an  excellent  place  at 
which  to  establish  a  line  of  defense.  As  it  was, 
they  appeared  to  have  had  only  a  few  hundred 
men  actually  engaged  at  that  place,  while  the 
bulk  of  their  forces  remained  idly  in  their 
camps  and  rendered  no  assistance  whatever  to 
the  comparatively  few  who  were  engaged.  The 
fight  lasted  several  hours,  giving  ample  time 
for  them  not  only  to  reinforce  the  point  at 
tacked,  but  to  make  disposition  of  their  troops 
at  their  leisure. 

Such  portions  of  the  official  reports  of  the 
generals  in  command,  as  related  directly  to  the 
9th  New  York,  are  given,  as  follows  : 


OFFICIAL  REPORTS  OF  THE  BATTLE.  151 

General  Foster,  the  ranking  officer  present 
and  in  actual  command,  says: 

"After  the  engagement  had  lasted  sometime,  the  gth  New  York 
coming  on  the  field,  I  directed  General  Parke  to  order  it  to  charge. 
The  order  was  given,  and  the  regiment  charged  at  a  run  with  yells, 
cheered  by  the  other  troops,  right  up  the  road  at  the  battery.  Major 
Kimball  of  this  regiment,  exhibited  marked  gallantry,  leading  the 
charge  by  several  rods." 

General  Parke,  who  commanded  the  brigade 
of  which  the  Ninth  was  a  part,  in  his  report  says  : 

"  It  being  now  ascertained  that  the  natural  obstacles  on  this 
line  (the  original  line  of  attack),  were  of  so  serious  a  character, 
and  that  the  delay  in  the  progress  of  the  troops  through  the  swamps 
was  so  great,  it  was  decided  to  change  the  course  of  the  gth  New 
York,  and  the  order  was  sent  to  the  Colonel  to  turn  to  the  left 
and  charge  the  battery  directly  up  the  road,  and  the  regiment  with  a 
hearty  yell  and  cheer,  struck  into  the  road,  and  made  for  the  battery 
on  the  run. 

"  The  order  was  given  to  charge  the  enemy  with  fixed  bayonets.  This 
was  done  in  gallant  style,  Major  Kimball  taking  the  lead.  The  Major 
was  very  conspicuous  during  the  movement,  and  I  take  great  pleasure 
in  commending  him  to  your  favorable  notice." 

Careful  research  among  the  "Official  Records" 
has  failed  to  find  mention  of  a  bayonet  charge 
at  an  earlier  date  than  the  above,  and  we  will 
leave  the  discovery  of  such  to  others. 

General  Burnside,  in  his  report  to  the  War 
Department,  says : 

*  *  *  "After  Reno  had  cleared  the  road  Parke's  brigade  arrived  and 
was  ordered  by  Foster  to  support  the  23d  and  27th  Massachusetts,  who 
were  turning  the  enemy's  left  flank.  The  4th  Rhode  Island  led  the 
movement,  and  just  as  the  gth  New  York  entered  the  wood,  following 
it,  Foster  and  Parke  found  that  Reno's  appearance  on  the  enemy's 
left  had  staggered  him,  and  they  decided  to  order  the  gth  New  York 
to  charge  the  battery  in  front,  which  was  instantly  done,  and  at  once 
the  road  was  filled  with  a  sea  of  red  caps,  the  air  resounding  with  their 
cheers.  *  *  *  The  merit  of  first  entering  the  fort  is  claimed  by  the  2ist 
Massachusetts  and  the  srst  New  York." 


152   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Captain  Thomas  H.  Parker,  of  the  5ist  Penn 
sylvania,  in  his  history  of  that  regiment,  says  : 


14  While  nearly  on  the  flank  of  the  works  (referring  to  position  of 
Pennsylvania),  and  making  efforts  to  get  across  to  the  fort,  a  distance 
of  about  150  yards,  the  gth  New  York  charged  in  solid  column  up  the 
road  into  the  fort,  capturing  the  three  guns,  etc." 

Frank  Vizitelly,  the  well  known  war  corre 
spondent  and  artist  for  the  London  Illustrated 
News,  was  just  in  the  rear  of  the  Ninth  when 
the  charge  was  made.  He  made  a  drawing  of  it, 
which  was  published  in  his  paper  and  was  repro 
duced  afterward  and  published  by  a  New  York 
illustrated  paper.  After  the  excitement  of  the 
fight  was  over  he  sought  an  introduction  to 
Colonel  Hawkins,  whom  he  complimented  very 
highly  on  the  conduct  of  the  regiment,  saying 
the  charge  was  the  best  thing  he  had  ever  seen 
done  by  a  green  regiment  and  congratulated 
him  upon  being  its  commander. 

Mr.    Vizitellv   had    seen  .service    in    various 

j 

lands,  and  under  many  conditions,  and  his 
commendations  were  of  the  highest  value,  com 
ing  as  they  did  from  one  who  was  perfectly 
impartial  in  his  feelings  toward  any  or  all  of  the 
regiments  engaged,  and  whose  opinion  and 
judgment  were  valuable  by  reason  of  his  ex 
perience. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  Colonel  Hawkins' 
report  to  his  immediate  superior  : 


COLONEL  HAWKINS'  REPORT.  153 

ROANOKE  ISLAND,  N.  C.,  Feb.  9,  1862. 
BRIG.-GENERAL  JOHN  G.  PARKE. 

GENERAL: — Agreeably  to  your  orders  the  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers 
disembarked  from  the  transports  and  landed  upon  the  Island  on  the 
evening  of  the  yth  inst.  The  next  morning  the  regiment,  with  others 
of  your  brigade,  were  ordered  out  to  reinforce  the  brigades  of 
Generals  Reno  and  Foster,  which  had  been  engaged  about  two  and 
one-half  hours.  Upon  reaching  the  battle-ground  I  was  ordered  to 
outflank  the  enemy  on  their  left,  where  they  were  in  position  behind 
an  entrenchment  mounting  three  guns.  After  leading  the  Ninth  New 
York  into  a  marsh  immediately  in  front  of  the  enemy's  works,  under 
a  heavy  fire  from  them  of  grape  and  musketry,  the  order  was  given  to 
charge  the  rebels  with  fixed  bayonets.  This  was  done  in  gallant  style, 
Major  Kimball  taking  the  lead.  The  enemy's  works  wrere  soon  carried 
and  hastily  abandoned  by  them.  All  officers  and  men  of  the  regiment 
behaved  with  great  gallantry  and  bravery ;  it  is  impossible  to  say  who 
is  most  deserving,  or  who  merits  the  most  applause.  In  my  opinion  all 
deserve  credit  and  praise  alike. 

After  this  we  were  ordered  to  pursue  the  rebels,  which  we  did,  and 
succeeded  in  taking  'some  forty  prisoners ;  among  them  were  several 
officers  and  men  of  the  Richmond  Blues,  who  had  composed  a  part  of 
the  Wise  Legion,  with  Captain  O.  Jennings  Wise  at  their  head,  who 
was  badly  wounded  and  was  trying  to  make  his  escape  to  Nag's  Head. 

I  regret  that  I  have  to  report  the  death  of  M.  De  Monteil,  Lieut.-Colo- 
nel  of  the  D'Epaneuil  Zouaves,  who^went  into  the  fight  with  the  Ninth 
New  York  as  a  volunteer.  He  was  killed  instantly  while  nobly  urging 
my  men  on  to  the  charge.  He  dies  greatly  lamented  by  all  the  officers 
and  men  of  the  regiment  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  His  bravery 
was  as  great  as  his  patriotism  was  sincere,  and  I  cannot  but  feel  that 
had  he  lived  he  would  have  proved  a  most  valuable  officer. 

The  Ninth  New  York  had  two  officers  and  thirteen  privates  wounded. 
Very  respectfully  yours,  etc., 

RUSH  C.  HAWKINS, 
Colonel  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers. 

That  night  the  "  Ninth"  occupied  a  cornfield 
near  a  house  which  during  the  day  had  been 
turned  into  a  hospital  for  the  rebels,  and  which 
was  now  crowded  with  the  wounded  of  both 
sides,  and  the  shrieks  and  groans  were  pitiful 
in  the  extreme.  Again  it  rained  hard  the  entire 


154    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

night,  but  the  men  were  too  exhausted  to  mind 
the  elements,  and  slept  soundly  through  it  all. 
They  had  been  on  foot  continuously  from  the 
previous  afternoon  when  ordered  to  "fall  in" 
for  disembarkation  and  from  that  time  until 
arms  were  stacked  in  the  cornfield  on  the  night 
of  the  8th,  not  one  man  in  twenty  of  the  entire 
regiment  had  sat  down  for  a  moment.  All  had 
been  soaked  to  the  skin  by  the  rain  of  the 
previous  night,  as  well  as  by  the  mud  and 
water  in  swamp  and  ditch  during  the  assault, 
and  had  reached  the  conclusion  that  there  was 
just  a  trifle  too  much  water  "in  their'n."  Both 
officers  and  men  were  young  and  in  rugged 
health,  while  out-of-door  life  and  plenty  of 
exercise  with  abundance  of  plain  food  (hard 
tack,  coffee  and  salt-horse),  enabled  all,  with 
the  exception  of  the  unfortunates  on  guard  duty, 
to  rise  the  following  morning  refreshed  and 
ready  and  willing  for  any  duty  they  might  be 
called  upon  to  perform.  For  several  days  fol 
lowing  they  were  busily  occupied  in  securing 
captured  arms,  guarding  and  otherwise  caring 
for  prisoners  and  performing  other  duties  of  a 
similar  character. 

The  prisoners  were  several  thousands  in 
number,  and  a  most  motley  crew  they  were. 
The  conditions  under  which  they  were  viewed 
were  the  worst  possible.  The  rain  had  fallen 


THE  PRISONERS  AS  THEY  APPEARED.  1 55 

in  torrents  almost  continuously  for  more  than 
forty-eight  hours,  and  their  clothing  was  soaked 
and  heavy  with  it.  They  were,  so  to  speak, 
rounded  up  like  a  herd  of  cattle  in  a  convenient 
field,  absolutely  without  shelter  and  surrounded 
by  a  line  of  guards.  Above  all,  they  were 
beaten  men,  defeated  on  their  own  ground, 
prisoners  in  their  own  camps,  melancholy  and 
discouraged,  and  it  was  difficult  to  repress  a 
feeling  of  pity  for  the  poor  unfortunates.  They 
seemed  to  be  Virginians,  Georgians  and  North 
Carolinians  principally.  Most  of  them  were 
clothed  in  a  plain,  serviceable,  soldier-like  uni 
form,  and  armed  in  military  style.  These  were 
principally  Georgians.  A  number  of  the  Vir 
ginians  sported  militia  uniforms  of  the  style  and 
fashion  of  the  period  of  the  Mexican  War. 
There  were  also  independent  companies  armed 
with  whatever  kind  of  firearm  the  individual 
owned  when  he  entered  the  service,  single  or 
double-barrel  shot  gun,  rifle  or  musket.  Num 
bers  of  them  were  supplied  with  a  weapon 
which  appeared  to  be  a  combination  of  knife 
and  sword.  These  were  plainly  of  home  manu 
facture,  having  been  forged  on  an  anvil ;  some 
were  fitted  with  wooden  hilts,  the  blade  being 
from  fifteen  to  twenty-four  inches  long,  and 
somewhat  similar  in  shape  to  a  sword  bayonet. 
A  cord  several  feet  long  was  attached  to  the 


136  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

hilt,  which  was  for  the  purpose  of  enabling 
the  wearer  to  recover  the  weapon  after  it  had 
been  hurled  at  the  enemy.  When  the  manner 
of  using  this  sword  was  explained  to  him  by  a 
prisoner,  one  of  Company  A's  men  expressed 
his  opinion  of  the  efficiency  of  the  wreapon  by 
remarking:  "While  you  was  foolin'  round  me 
with  that  thing  I  would  be  pickin'  your  teeth 
with  this  bayonet." 

Several  of  these  companies  were,  or  rather 
had  been,  happy  owners  of  really  handsome  silk 
flags,  the  name  of  the  companies  being  skill 
fully  embroidered  upon  them.  One  bore  the 
appellation  "Tar  River  Rangers,"  another,  of 
which  even  some  of  the  "tar  heels  "  and  "tur 
pentine  scrapers"  seemed  ashamed,  was  em 
blazoned  "  Yankee  Fool  Killers." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

EXPEDITIONS  TO  NAG'S  HEAD  AND  WINTON,  N.  C. 
-NINTH    REGIMENT    GARRISONS    ROANOKE 
ISLAND  -  -  RESIGNATION    OF      LIEUTENANT- 
COLONEL  BETTS — EXPEDITION    UNDER    MA 
JOR  JARDINE EXPEDITION  TO  SOUTH  MILLS 

-  TERRIFIC    MARCH  -  -  BATTLE    OF    SOUTH 
MILLS  OR    CAMDEN  -  -  HEAVY    LOSS    OF    THE 
NINTH  -  -  DEATH  OF    ADJUTANT  GADSDEN- 
RETURN  TO  ROANOKE  --  RETROSPECTION  - 
GENERAL      RENO'S    REPORT      OF     BATTLE  - 

COLONEL  HAWKINS'  REPORT. 

THE  battle  of  Roanoke  Island  was  fought  on 
the  8th  of  February,  1862.  The  following 
day  was  a  busy  one  for  the  regiment,  being 
spent  in  gathering  the  scattered  prisoners  and 
securing  them,  as  well  as  in  furnishing  details 
to  guard  and  escort  them,  and  to  take  charge  of 
captured  camps  and  stores  in  and  about  the 
forts  and  batteries.  The  regiment  did  not  act  as 
a  whole,  but  in  detachments,  at  the  various 
points  where  their  services  were  required. 
That  night  the  command  reassembled  and  bi 
vouacked  in  the  woods. 


158    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

When  morning  came  they  were  marched  to 
the  shore  of  Croaton  Sound  and  again  boarded 
the  transports  in  which  they  had  come  from 
Hatteras.  They  were  glad,  indeed,  to  return  to 
their  old  quarters  and  "  seek  the  seclusion  that 
the  cabin  grants."  Hardly  had  the  various 
companies  arrived  on  their  respective  vessels, 
however,  than  an  order  was  received  for  a  de 
tail  of  two  companies  for  a  reconnaissance  to 
Nag's  Head.  This  was  a  summer  watering  place 
much  patronized  by  well-to-do  Virginians  be 
fore  the  war,  situated  on  the  narrow  neck  of 
mainland  between  Roanoke  Sound  and  the 
ocean.  It  was  nearly  opposite  Roanoke  Island 
and  distant  therefrom  five  or  six  miles.  But 
the  fleet  lay  on  the  westerly  side  of  the  island, 
which  it  was  necessary  to  circumnavigate  in 
order  to  reach  the  desired  point,  and  this  added 
very  much  to  the  distance  to  be  sailed  to  reach 
Nag's  Head.  Companies  B  and  H  were  desig 
nated  for  the  detail.  They  were  ordered  to 

-/ 

"  fall  in  "  for  this  duty  just  as  they  had  begun 
to  cook  their  rations  for  the  first  "  square  meal " 
they  had  had  since  they  left  the  transports, 
three  days  before.  Hungry  stomachs  and  wist 
ful  eyes  turned  reluctantly  from  the  savory 
odors  of  sputtering  pork  and  steaming  coffee, 
as  each  man  followed  his  duty,  and  as  their 
more  fortunate  comrades  smacked  their  lips 


RECONNAISSANCE  TO  NAG'S  HEAD.  159 

over  their  meal,  the  boys  of  B  and  H,  under 
the  immediate  command  of  Colonel  Hawkins, 
hurried  aboard  the  steamer  "  Picket."  The 
officers  of  the  "  Picket,"  however,  generously 
provided  the  boys  with  coffee  and  crackers, 
which  revived  their  flagging  spirits,  and  as  a 
sense  of  comfort  gradually  stole  over  them  the 
nervous  tension  relaxed  and  they  broke  forth 
in  song  and  jest  and  gleeful  antics,  much  to  the 
edification  and  amusement  of  the  sailors.  Not 
withstanding  the  fact  that  the  vessel  was  very 
much  overcrowded,  and  that  rain  and  snow  fell 
alternately  throughout  the  night,  a  very  comfor 
table  time  was  passed. 

After  they  had  accomplished  the  object  of 
the  reconnaissance  the  troops  returned  on  the 
steamer  to  the  transports. 

The  following  is  Colonel  Hawkins'  report  of 
the  reconnaissance: 

STEAMER  "VIRGINIA,"  Feb.  n,  1862. 
GEN.  J.  G.  PARKE: 

GENERAL: — In  accordance  with  orders  received  from  you  on  the  loth 
inst. ,  I  proceeded  with  two  companies  of  the  Ninth  New  York  Volun 
teers  on  board  the  steamer  "  Picket "  to  Nag's  Head,  and  this  morning 
landed  at  the  wharf  opposite  to  where  the  hotel  formerly  stood.  I 
learned  that  General  Wise  left  there  about  an  hour  and  a  half  before 
sundown  last  Saturday,  taking  with  him  about  three  hundred  and  fifty 
men  belonging  to  the  "  Wise  Legion." 

Wise,  in  order  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  the  vandals  and  ruffians  (the 
tribe  to  which  he  belongs),  burned  the  hotel  and  several  of  the  resi 
dences,  destroying  a  large  amount  of  property,  but  little  use  to  anyone. 
Very  respectfully  yours, 

RUSH  C.  HAWKINS, 

Colonel  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers. 


16O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS, 

Meanwhile  the  prisoners  captured  on  Roa- 
noke  Island  had  been  sent  North,  and  a  survey 
of  new  fields  for  conquest  made.  A  rumor 
reached  the  commander  of  the  forces  that  cer 
tain  loyal  North  Carolinians  at  Winton,  on  the 
Chowan  River,  were  seeking  a  junction  with  the 
Union  forces.  This  rumor  caused  the  General 
to  send  the  larger  portion  of  the  fleet  of  gun 
boats,  together  with  the  gth  New  York,  to 
Winton  to  succor  them.  The  fleet  for  this 
expedition  mounted  thirty-three  guns  and  was 
commanded  by  Commodore  Rowan. 

At  noon  on  the  i8th  the  little  fleet  started, 
but  when  about  half  the  distance  had  been 
covered  anchored  for  the  night.  On  the  follow 
ing  day  when  but  a  short  distance  from  Winton, 
and  while  proceeding  up  the  river  in  single 
file  Commodore  Rowran  on  the  "  Delaware " 
being  ahead,  closely  followed  by  the  "  Perry," 
commanded  by  Lieutenant-Commander  Flus- 
ser,  with  Company  A,  of  the  Ninth,  on  board, 
the  other  companies  being  distributed  among 
the  fleet,  it  was  suddenly  fired  upon  with  both 
artillery  and  musketry  from  the  shore.  The 
call  "  to  quarters "  was  beaten,  every  man 
slipped  into  his  place,  and  in  less  than  sixty 
seconds  such  a  shower  of  g-inch  Dahlgren  and 
loo-pound  Parrot  shells  began  to  fall  around 
and  among  the  enemy  on  shore,  that  their  fire 


THE  ATTACK  ON  THE  GUNBOATS.  161 

ceased  at  once  and  they  scattered  and  tem 
porarily  disappeared.  They  nevertheless  man 
aged  to  keep  up  an  ineffective  musketry  fire 
from  sheltered  places.  As  it  was  late  in  the 
day  and  falling  dusk  it  was  not  thought  judi 
cious  to  attempt  a  landing  then,  so  the  fleet 
dropped  down  the  river  to  a  point  where  it  was 
wide  enough  to  afford  a  place  for  easy  defense. 
Flusser  with  the  "  Perry "  covered  this  move 
ment.  When  the  Confederates  saw  that  the 
fleet  was  retiring  they  evidently  supposed  it 
had  been  beaten  off,  as  they  appeared  in  con 
siderable  force  on  both  banks  of  the  river,  their 
mounted  men  riding  along  abreast  of  the 
"  Perry,"  keeping  up  an  intermittent  musketry 
fire.  Occasionally  there  came  a  shot  from  a 
field  gun,  but  there  was  no  damage  done,  and 
they  found  the  return  fire  from  g-inch  cannon 
quite  interesting. 

While  the  vessels  were  at  anchor  the  men 
learned  for  the  first  time  that  there  had  been 
another  object  in  view  for  the  expedition  in 
addition  to  the  rescue  of  the  alleged  loyalists. 
This  was  the  destruction  of  the  bridges  over 
the  Nottoway  and  Blackwater  Rivers,  of  the 
Roanoke  and  Seaboard  R.R.  For  this  purpose 
small  packages  of  oakum  and  kindling  wood 
were  distributed  among  the  men. 

On  the  following  morning  the  fleet  again  pro- 


162    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

ceeded  up  the  river  to  Winton,  carefully  shell 
ing  the  adjacent  woods  and  the  town.  The 
regiment  was  landed,  and  while  part  of  it  occu 
pied  the  town,  strong  detachments  were  thrown 
forward  on  all  the  roads  leading  into  the 
country,  in  search  of  the  enemy.  Plenty  of 
evidence  was  visible  that  the  place  had  been  re 
cently  occupied  by  a  strong  force,  and  that  it 
was  a  depot  of  supplies  for  the  Confederate 
army.  On  account  of  the  quantities  of  military 
stores  found,  which  it  was  then  impossible  to 
take  away,  and  for  other  reasons,  which  are  set 
forth  in  Colonel  Hawkins'  report,  it  was  decided 
to  burn  the  town.  This  was  done,  the  troops 
remaining  until  the  fire  was  well  under  way 
and  the  total  destruction  of  the  place  was 
assured,  when  they  retired  to  the  gunboats. 

This  affair,  which  gave  warning  to  the  enemy 
and  prevented  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  sur 
prise  taking  place,  made  the  pursuance  of  the 
bridge-burning  project  impracticable,  and  it  was 
abandoned.  The  story  concerning  loyalists 
who  were  reported  to  be  so  anxious  to  join 
the  Union  forces  proved  to  be  a  myth.  None 
but  enemies  were  found  at  Winton.  The  fleet 
returned  to  Roanoke  Island  and  the  troops 
joined  the  others  in  preparing  for  an  advance 
on  Newberne,  which  was  decided  to  be  the 
next  point  of  attack. 


COL  ON  EL  HA  WKINS '  REPOR  T.  163 

Colonel  Hawkins'  official  report  of  this  affair 
is  as  follows : 

STEAMER  "VIRGINIA,"  ROANOKE  ISLAND,  N.  C.,  Feb.  21,  1862. 
BRIG. -GENERAL  J.  G.  PARKE: 

GENERAL: — In  accordance  with  your  orders  of  the  i6th  inst. ,  I  called 
upon  Commodore  Rowan,  and  made  arrangements  to  embark  my  regi 
ment  on  board  some  of  the  gunboats  of  his  division  for  the  purpose  of 
proceeding  up  the  Blackwater  and  Nottoway  rivers,  and  destroying  the 
bridges  over  them  of  the  Roanoke  and  Seaboard  Railroad. 

At  12  o'clock  M.  of  the  i8th  inst.,  the  regiment  was  embarked  and 
the  expedition  got  under  way,  and  that  night  anchored  off  the  mouth 
of  the  Roanoke  river,  where  it  remained  until  10  A.  M.,  of  the  following 
day,  and  then  commenced  its  advance  up  the  Chowan  river.  Nothing 
of  importance  occurred  till  about  3.30  P.  M.,  the  flag  steamer  "Dela 
ware"  being  about  one  mile  ahead  of  any  of  the  other  boats.  I  was 
on  the  cross-trees  of  the  mainmast,  where  I  had  been  on  the  lookout 
for  about  two  hours,  and  the  steamer  was  within  three  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  of  the  wharf  at  Winton,  when  I  discovered  that  the  high 
bank  we  were  rapidly  approaching  was  covered  with  Confederate 
soldiers.  I  immediately  gave  the  alarm,  but  not  in  time  to  change  the 
course  of  the  boat  until  she  had  got  within  one  hundred  yards  of  the 
shore,  when  we  received  the  fire  of  seven  hundred  infantry  or  more, 
which  continued  until  we  had  passed  up  the  river  out  of  range,  when 
we  turned  about  and  began  shelling  the  town,  the  enemy  returning 
the  fire  with  four  pieces  of  field  artillery  from  the  shore.  In  the  mean 
time  the  gunboat  "  Perry"  having  come  within  range,  opened  upon 
the  rebels  from  below.  Soon  after  the  enemy  was  dislodged  and  retired, 
when  the  "  Delaware  "  returned  down  the  river,  receiving  four  shots 
when  she  passed  the  wharf.  The  whole  fleet  came  to  anchor 
about  seven  miles  below  Winton.  A  consultation  was  held  and  it  was 
then  agreed  to  advance  again  next  morning  and  burn  the  town  if 
found  occupied  by  the  enemy. 

About  11.30  A.  M.,  of  the  2oth  inst.,  our  gunboats  arrived  at  and 
took  their  positions,  some  above,  some  opposite  and  others  below  the 
town,  when  the  guns  commenced  firing,  giving  the  place  an  effective 
shelling,  and  in  about  twenty  minutes  my  regiment  landed,  accom 
panied  by  three  guns  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Flusser, 
of  the  Commodore  Perry.  The  guns  were  placed  in  position  so  as  to 
command  the  approaches  to  the  town,  and  the  regiment  was  drawn  up 
in  line  awaiting  the  attack  of  the  enemy.  In  the  meantime  parties  of 
observation  and  scouts  were  sent  out  in  all  directions.  It  was  soon 
ascertained  that  the  rebels  had  retreated  as  soon  as  our  forces  came  in 
sight  that  morning,  leaving  everything  behind  excepting  arms  and 


164   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS, 

accoutrements.  Six  companies  of  my  regiment  took  possession  of  the 
main  approach  to  the  town,  and  I  commenced  making  a  personal  in 
spection  of  all  the  buildings.  I  found  that  nearly  the  whole  had  been 
taken  possession  of  and  occupied  by  the  Confederate  troops  as  quarters 
and  store-houses.  I  then  ordered  that  every  building  containing  stores 
for  the  enemy  or  used  by  them  as  quarters,  should  be  fired,  and  placed 
guards  in  the  others  to  see  that  they  were  not  disturbed  or  destroyed. 

The  property  consumed  belonging  to  the  Confederate  forces,  con 
sisted  of  bacon,  cornmeal,  sugar,  powder,  mess-pans,  camp  kettles, 
haversacks,  canteens,  etc.,  the  whole  worth  not  less  than  $10,000. 

This,  I  believe,  is  the  first  instance  during  the  war  where  on  our  side 
fire  had  accompanied  the  sword.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  such  severe 
measures  have  to  be  resorted  to;  they  can  only  be  justified  on  the 
grounds 

first.  Retaliation  for  trying  to  decoy  us  into  a  trap  at  the  time  of 
firing  into  the  "  Delaware."  Evidence  of  this  is  that  a  negress,  the 
property  of  one  of  the  Confederate  officers,  was  sent  down  to  the  wharf 
by  her  master  to  beckon  us  into  the  landing,  when  we  were  all  to  be 
slaughtered,  or  in  the  words  of  the  negress:  "  Dey  said  that  dey  want 
gwine  to  let  anybody  lib  at  all,  but  wasgwine  to  kill  ebery  one  ob  'em." 
We  were  to  have  received  no  quarter. 

Second.  The  buildings  fired  had  been  used  by  the  rebel  forces  as 
store-houses  and  quarters. 

From  information  obtained  at  Winton,  we  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  would  be  impossible  to  accomplish  the  original  object  and  aim 
of  the  expedition,  so  it  had  to  be  abandoned. 

The  forces  at  Winton,  as  near  as  I  could  ascertain,  consisted  of  six 
companies  of  the  First  Battalion,  North  Carolina  Volunteers,  under 
command  of  Lieut.  Col.  William  T.  Williams,  one  battery  of  light 
artillery,  one  company  of  the  Southampton  Cavalry,  and  one  or  two 
companies  of  North  Carolina  Militia;  the  whole  under  the  charge 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Williams. 

I  am  happy  to  inform  you  that  none  of  our  forces  were  injured.  The 
enemy  sustained  some  considerable  loss  from  the  fire  of  our  gunboats 
on  the  igth,  but  I  am  not  able  to  state  how  many  were  either  killed  or 
wounded. 

The  troops  under  my  command  and  the  officers  and  sailors  of  the 
gunboats  behaved  exceedingly  well,  and  performed  all  of  the  various 
duties  with  promptness  and  alacrity. 

I  feel  greatly  indebted  to  Commodore  S.  C.  Rowan  and  the  lieu 
tenants  in  command  of  the  gunboats,  for  their  attention  to  the  wants 
and  comforts  of  my  regiment,  and  also  for  their  hearty  co-operation  in 
trying  to  carry  out  the  object  of  the  expedition. 

I  am  most  faithfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RUSH  C.  HAWKINS, 
Colonel  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers. 


GENERAL  BURNSID&S  REASONS.  165 

Within  a  few  days  after  the  return  of  the 
regiment  from  this  expedition  the  prepara 
tions  for  the  move  on  Newberne  were  com 
pleted  and  the  expedition  was  ready  to 
proceed.  On  the  morning  before  it  sailed 
from  Roanake  Island,  General  Burnside  sent 
for  Colonel  Hawkins,  and  upon  his  report 
ing  at  headquarters,  said  to  him :  "  We  leave 
tomorrow  for  an  attack  on  Newberne,  and  this 
being  an  important  point  I  desire  to  leave  it 
in  safe  hands,  and  shall  place  you  in  command 
with  a  sufficient  force  to  defend  it  in  case  of  an 
attack.  I  give  you  this  important  command 
as  a  mark  of  my  appreciation  of  the  fine  con 
duct  of  your  regiment."  A  new  brigade  of  three 
regiments  designated  in  Orders  as  the  "  Fourth" 
was  formed  and  Colonel  Hawkins  placed  at  its 
head  and  in  command  at  Roanoke  Island.  His 
district  comprised  all  the  waters  and  territory 
northwest,  north  and  northeast  of  the  southern 
end  of  Croaton  Sound. 

On  the  5th  of  March  the  brigade  disembarked 
from  the  transports  and  the  regiments  compos 
ing  it  were  distributed  in  various  camps  on  the 
island,  the  Ninth  being  assigned  to  one  formerly 
occupied  by  the  rebels,  and  where  there  were 
commodious  and  well  arranged  barracks  which 
they  had  erected  for  their  own  winter  quarters. 
These  barracks  were  arranged  in  a  column  of 


166   NIN'IH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

companies  and  separated  from  each  other  by 
wide  company  streets,  the  two  companies  occu 
pying  the  quarters  facing  the  same  street  using  it 
in  common.  The  buildings  were  double,  each 
facing  on  two  company  streets,  with  a  partition 
running  lengthwise  through  each  dividing  it 
into  rooms  for  two  companies,  which  were 
again  divided  into  squad-rooms.  These  were 
provided  with  bunks  and  fireplaces.  They  were 
the  best  arranged  and  most  comfortable  quar 
ters  the  regiment  has  thus  far  occupied.  The 
transfer  from  a  camp  of  mud  and  rain  to  these 
weather-proof  and  convenient  quarters  caused 
each  man  to  feel  a  sense  of  exhilaration  such  as 
come  to  those  who  acquire  wealth  suddenly. 
The  boys  certainly  felt  that  they  were  living  in 
luxury.  In  addition  to  the  barracks  there  were 
other  buildings  in  the  camp  sufficient  to  accom 
modate  the  various  regimental  departments, 
including  officers'  quarters  and  a  hospital.  The 
camp  was  christened  Camp  Reno.  Company 
D  was  assigned  to  garrison  duty  at  the  largest 
of  the  captured  forts  which  had  formed  the  Con 
federate  stronghold.  It  was  named  Fort  Reno. 
It  had  a  dock  and  other  landing  facilities  and 
soon  became  the  principal  a"  port  of  entry  >f  of 
the  island.  It  was  also  the  principal  market  for 
such  produce  as  the  natives  had  to  sell.  The 
demand  for  poultry,  eggs,  pies,  cookies  and 


RESIGN  A  riON  OF  L1EUT.-COLONEL  BETTS.        1  67 

such  articles  was  quite  brisk  and  the  natives 
were  glad  to  supply  them.  It  also  became  the 
place  of  refuge  for  runaway  slaves,  and  many  a 
pitiful  tale  of  cruelty  and  terror  was  here 
related.  This  company  having  been  kept 
numerically  full  by  the  recruits  received,  and 
having  remained  remarkably  free  from  sickness, 
it  frequently  marched  to  dress  parade  an 
hundred  strong.  It  called  itself  the  "  Left  wing 
of  the  regiment."  The  non-coms,  of  the  com 
pany  claimed  the  credit  for  this  condition  and 
at  times  were  inclined  to  be  vain  glorious  in 
consequence.  This,  of  course,  could  not  be 
tolerated  by  the  other  non-coms,  of  the  regi 
ment,  and  they,  therefore,  determined  to  "  cut 
the  combs  "  of  the  Company  D  fellows,  which 
they  proceeded  to  do,  with  more  or  less 
success  and  satisfaction. 

Soon  after  the  capture  of  Roanoke  Island 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Betts  tendered  his  resigna 
tion  and  returned  to  New  York,  February  14, 
1862.  He  was  a  thorough  soldier  and  his  loss 
was  deeply  regretted  by  the  regiment.  He  was 
an  excellent  drill-officer,  perfect  master  of  regi 
mental  and  brigade  tactics,  and  it  was  in  a  large 
measure  due  to  his  persistent  efforts  that  the 
Zouaves  attained  their  noted  proficiency  in 
drill. 

The   Newberne   expedition  sailed  on  March 


168    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

yth,  when  Colonel  Hawkins  assumed  command 
of  the  Fourth  Brigade  and  Post,  the  command 
of  the  regiment  devolving  on  Captain  Jardine, 
who  a  few  days  later  was  promoted  to  be  Major 
and  was  presented  with  a  fine  set  of  equipments 
by  his  late  Company  G. 

Major  Kimball  was  on  leave  of  absence  but 
returned  on  the  24th  wearing  a  lieutenant- 
colonel's  uniform,  he  having  received  his  com 
mission  to  that  grade  while  at  home.  He  was 
welcomed  back  with  three-times-three  rousing 
cheers,  for  the  boys  recognized  him  as  an  old 
comrade,  tried  and  true. 

The  regiment  now  settled  down  to  the  old 
routine  of  drill  and  parade,  guard  mount,  and 
fatigue  duty,  which  comprises  the  military  life 
while  in  garrison. 

To  the  great  delight  of  the  old  sergeant  of 
regulars  at  Newport  News  who  trained  him, 
Corporal  Searing,  of  Company  D,  had  acquired 
great  skill  in  artillery  drill,  and  he  now  bent 
his  energies  to  transmit  that  skill  to  the 
others  of  his  company  now  stationed  at  Fort 
Reno.  As  a  result  they  soon  became  quite  ex 
pert  under  his  instructions. 

The  monotony  of  camp  and  garrison  life  on 
the  island  was  frequently  broken  by  incursions 
into  the  enemy's  country,  which  were  either 
organized  by  Colonel  Hawkins  or  ordered  by 
superior  authority. 


EXPEDITION  UP  THE  PASQUOTAUK  169 

On  April  yth  Companies  H  and  I,  under 
command  of  Major  Jardine,  with  six  companies 
of  the  6th  New  Hampshire  Volunteers,  the 
whole  under  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Griffin  of  the  6th  New  Hampshire,  boarded  the 
gunboats  and  steamed  across  Albermarle  Sound 
up  the  Pasquotank  river  to  Elizabeth  City,  where, 
landing,  they  surprised  two  companies  of  North 
Carolina  militia,  who  stampeded  without  offer 
ing  any  resistance,  casting  away  their  weapons 
and  flying  in  great  disorder  to  the  woods.  They 
were  rapidly  pursued  and  seventy-three  men 
belonging  to  the  First  Brigade,  North  Carolina 
Militia,  were  captured,  brought  to  Camp  Reno 
and  guarded  by  the  Ninth. 

One  of  the  Zouaves  thus  refers  to  them  in 
his  diary  : 

"They  were,  indeed,  a  motley  set;  some  had  straw  hats,  others 
of  felt  and  of  nearly  every  color.  Many  had  gray  coats,  some  black, 
others  brown,  and  one  none  at  all.  The  other  articles  of  dress  con 
formed  to  the  same  variety.  A  little  tow-head  corporal  (the  highest 
rank  among  them),  about  fourteen  years  old,  was  the  only  one  who 
could  write  his  name. 

"  I  was  Sergeant  of  the  Guard  over  them,  and  allowed  them  to  come 
out  to  the  line  that  they  might  see  a  dress  parade  worth  looking  at. 
They  were  very  much  pleased,  and  said  they  '  really  believed  it  was  of 
no  use  fighting  against  men  like  those.'  " 

They  all  took  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and 
were  permitted  to  return  to  their  homes. 

It  was  evident  that  the  enemy  were  expecting 
some  sort  of  demonstration  toward  the  rear  of 
Norfolk,  by  the  Union  troops  as  they  had 


1  7O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NE  W  YORK  VOL  UNTEERS. 

erected  batteries  along  the  line  of  the  canal 
leading  to  that  place,  and  had  stationed  a 
force  at  South  Mills,  some  twelve  miles  distant 
from  Camden. 

It  was  soon  shown  that  the  enemy  was  right 
in  preparing  for  an  attack  in  that  direction,  for 
about  the  i6th  of  April  Colonel  Hawkins  was 
ordered  to  proceed  with  his  brigade  to  Eliza 
beth  City  and  from  there  advance  against  the 
rebels  at  South  Mills,  thereby  making  a  dem 
onstration  against  Norfolk. 

Orders  were  issued  for  each  regiment  to  be 
in  readiness  to  move  with  fifty  rounds  of  cart 
ridges,  three  days'  rations,  axes  and  shovels, 
and  on  April  i8th  the  brigade,  consisting  of  the 
9th  and  8gth  New  York,  and  6th  New  Hamp 
shire  regiments,  started  on  transports  for  Eliza 
beth  City. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  General 
Order  No.  12  : 

"The  duty  which  this  force  is  called  upon  to 
endure  being  dangerous  and  difficult,  and  it 
having  a  very  long  and  arduous  march  to  per 
form,  none  but  men  capable  of  undergoing  the 
greatest  fatigue  will  be  allowed  to  accompany 
it.  Commanding  officers  are  especially  en 
joined  to  see  that  this  part  of  the  order  is 
strictly  enforced." 

At  the  time  these  orders  were  received  and 


EXPEDITION  TO  CAMDEN.  1  7  1 


the  expedition  started,  Colonel  Hawkins  had 
no  knowledge  that  any  troops  in  addition  to 
his  own  were  to  take  part  in  it,  and  he  was 
therefore  surprised  to  meet  General  Reno  with 
two  regiments  —  2ist  Massachusetts  and  5ist 
Pennsylvania --near  the  mouth  of  the  river. 
Reno  at  once  assumed  command,  and  ordered 
Colonel  Hawkins  to  land  his  brigade  at  a  place 
called  Shantilly,  and  immediately  proceed  with 
all  dispatch  to  a  bridge  which  crossed  the  Pas- 
quotank  river,  some  two  miles  from  South 
Mills,  and  to  surprise  the  enemy  who  was 
presumed  to  be  stationed  there.  Reno  was  to 
follow  as  soon  as  the  troops  on  the  other 
steamers,  which  were  delayed  by  grounding, 
could  be  landed. 

Considerable  delay  was  caused  by  the  troops 
being  compelled  to  use  small  boats  in  making 
a  landing.  From  these  the  men  were  obliged 
to  jump  when  near  the  shore,  and  wade  through 
mud  and  water  to  reach  the  bank.  It  was  after 
3  o'clock  A.M.  before  the  column  finally  moved. 

Here  commenced  a  march  which  for  length 
and  duration  was  of  the  most  extraordinary 
nature,  and  to  this  day  no  one  seems  able  to 
explain  why  such  a  roundabout  route  was 
chosen.  Two  plain,  direct  and  level  roads  led 
from  Elizabeth  City  to  South  Mills,  the  one 
running  east  of  the  Pasquotank  river  being 


1  72  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOL  UNTEERS. 

twelve  miles,  and  the  one  west  of  the  river 
fifteen  miles  in  length,  over  a  level  and  inhab 
ited  country.  It  remains  one  of  the  inex 
plicable  mysteries  why  one  or  the  other  of 
these  was  not  taken  and  followed  until  South 
Mills  was  reached.  The  advance  guard  soon 
after  starting  encountered  the  rebel  pickets  and 
fired  on  them,  but  they  being  mounted  rapidly 
disappeared  to  give  notice  of  the  approaching 
column.  At  daybreak,  which  ushered  in  an  in 
tensely  hot  day,  a  short  stop  was  made  for  rest 
and  to  allow  the  men  to  eat  their  rations.  Re 
suming  the  march  the  column  moved  forward 
with  rapidity,  the  desire  being  to  reach  the  ob 
jective  point  and  defeat  the  enemy  before  he 
should  be  reinforced  from  Norfolk. 

As  they  advanced,  the  sun  rose  over  the  trees 
like  a  great  red  ball  of  flame,  or  like  an  angry 
spirit  mercilessly  threatening  a  scorching  day. 
The  marching  troops  pulverized  the  dry  ground 
into  fine  dust  so  that  it  covered  every  man  as  a 
garment.  As  the  sun's  rays  came  down  more 
direct  the  atmosphere  became  intensely  hot 
and  perspiration  oozed  from  every  pore.  The 
clouds  of  dust  entered  eyes,  mouths  and  nos 
trils,  filling  the  air  passages,  obscuring  the  vis 
ion,  and  parching  the  throats  of  the  men  until 
they  found  it  difficult  to  breathe  and  all  went 
struggling  and  gasping  along,  weighted  down 


A   TRYING  MARCH— APRIL  NINETEENTH.         173 

with  their  muskets,  ammunition  and  haver 
sacks,  wondering  at  what  men  could  endure 
and  live.  A  halt  was  made  about  nine 
o'clock,  but  too  brief  to  permit  the  making 
of  fires  for  cooking  purposes  and  the  men 
were  obliged  to  eat  hurriedly  of  hard-tack 
and  salt-horse,  the  latter  adding  to  the  crav 
ing  for  water.  Again  resuming  the  line  of 
march  under  constantly  increasing  difficulties 
of  travel,  it  gradually  dawned  upon  the  men 
that  the  main  road  had  been  abandoned,  as  the 
way  now  led  along  byways  through  fields  and 
plantations.  Meanwhile  the  oppressive  heat 
grew  more  oppressive,  and  the  tired  soldiers 
grew  weaker.  Water  was  very  scarce  and  a 
consuming  thirst  added  to  the  pangs  already 
endured.  Many  sank  to  the  ground  overcome 
by  heat  or  exhaustion,  and  were  left  to  recover 
as  best  they  could.  The  stern  command  of 
"  Close  up  !  close  up,  men  !  "  ever  ringing  in  the 
ears  of  the  jaded  soldiers  compelled  them  to 
still  advance. 

Word  was  passed  along  the  line  that  this 
day  was  the  igth  of  April,  the  anniversary  of 
the  organization  of  the  regiment  and  also  of  the 
battle  of  Lexington,  and  this  for  a  time  served 
to  spur  the  drooping  spirits  of  the  wearied 
troops,  by  recalling  to  their  memory  the  patriotic 
spirit  of  76,  and  for  a  while  they  forgot  their 


174   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

sufferings  in  the  hope  that  this  day  might  again 
prove  a  memorable  one  in  the  annals  of  the 
nation.  About  noon  when  every  one  was  nearly 
exhausted  by  the  rapid  march  and  the  intense 
heat,  a  column  of  troops  was  seen  approaching 
along  a  road  running  at  right  angles  to  the  one 
over  which  the  brigade  was  marching.  It 
proved  to  be  the  2ist  Massachusetts  and  5ist 
Pennsylvania  accompanied  by  General  Reno. 
These  troops  did  not  start  from  the  place  of 
landing  until  after  7  A.M.,  but,  having  followed 
the  direct  road  they  had  marched  less  than  half 
the  distance  covered  by  the  Fourth  brigade. 
They  were  greatly  surprised  that  Hawkins' 
men  had  not  yet  found  the  enemy. 

These  men  were  in  fairly  good  condition, 
while  those  in  Hawkins'  column  were  nearly  all 
ready  to  drop  from  fatigue,  and  from  the  usual 
accompaniment  of  blistered  and  bloody  feet, 
aggravating  chafes  and  other  causes  incident  to 
a  long  forced  march  by  troops  so  long  in  camp 
and  on  transports,  that  they  were,  compara 
tively,  "soft."  A  march  like  this  once  experi 
enced,  can  never  be  forgotten  by  the  soldier. 
After  a  short  rest  it  was  resumed  with  Reno's 
brigade  and  two  guns  of  Company  K's  battery 
in  advance. 

At  about  one  o'clock  the  enemy  was  found 
posted  in  a  strong  position  on  both  sides  of  the 


OPENING  OF  THE  BATTLE.  175 

road.  They  opened  fire  as  soon  as  the  head  of 
the  Union  column  came  within  range. 

The  batteries,  consisting  of  K's  guns  and 
those  of  the  New  York  Marine  Artillery,  un- 
limbered  in  the  road,  and  a  spirited  duel  ensued, 
gun  answering  gun. 

The  2ist  Massachusetts  and  5ist  Pennsyl 
vania  were  sent  to  the  right  by  General  Reno 
to  turn  the  enemy's  left,  and  when  Hawkins' 
brigade  arrived  it  was  ordered  forward,  with 
instructions  for  two  regiments  to  follow,  to 
support  the  2ist  and  5ist,  while  the  third,  the 
6th  New  Hampshire,  supported  the  batteries. 
The  artillery  on  both  sides  meanwhile  kept  up 
a  steady  and  rapid  fire.  The  Ninth  moved  for 
ward  and  after  proceeding  a  short  distance 
turned  from  the  main  road  and  moved  to  the 
right  through  the  edge  of  the  woods  where  it 
halted,  and  awaited  orders,  keeping  under 
cover  of  the  woods  out  of  sight  of  the  enemy's 
artillery-men. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball  who  commanded 
the  regiment  rode  out  into  the  open  ground  in 
front,  in  plain  view  of  the  enemy,  and  after  a 
short  inspection  of  the  ground  and  of  the  situa 
tion  returned  and  reported : 

"Nothing  but  solid  shot,  boys,  we  don't  care 
for  that."  But  the  boys  evidently  did  not 
agree  with  the  Colonel  just  then  as  there 


176   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

was  some  lively  dodging  when  a  shot  or  shell 
came  unpleasantly  close  to  their  heads  and  they 
felt  that  there  were  far  more  pleasant  places  to 
be  found  than  the  present  one. 

At  this  point  Colonel  Hawkins  personally 
assumed  command  of  the  Zouaves  and  led 
them  forward  in  an  assault  on  the  enemy's 
position.  We  quote  from  an  article  of  his  on 
this  battle,  afterward  published  in  the  Century 
Magazine: 

"  The  action  had  continued  for  about  an  hour  (chiefly  artillery),  when 
I  concluded  to  make  an  observation  in  an  open  cornfield,  directly  in 
front  of  the  rebel  center.  I  proceeded  to  a  fence  within  a  hundred 
yards  of  the  edge  of  the  clearing,  heard  no  firing  of  infantry,  concluded 
the  rebels  had  been  silently  outflanked  on  their  left  by  the  2ist  Massa 
chusetts  and  sist  Pennsylvania,  and  thought  my  regiment  might  get 
across  the  cornfield  and  capture  the  battery  which  still  continued  the 
action.  I  returned  and  described  what  I  proposed  to  do,  and  asked 
the  men  if  they  thought  they  were  equal  to  the  undertaking.  Although 
nearly  exhausted  by  their  long  march  they  signified  their  willingness 
to  try.  Arriving  at  the  fence  the  regiment  was  formed  in  line  of 
battle  and  commenced  to  move  over  the  field.  When  within  fifty 
yards  of  the  edge  of  the  clearing  the  right  companies  received  the 
concentrated  fire  of  the  whole  of  the  enemy's  infantry  and  artillery,  and 
in  less  than  two  minutes  lost  nine  killed  and  fifty-eight  wounded." 

This  movement  of  the  "Ninth"  was  made 
independent  of  the  other  troops  and  was  en 
tirely  unsupported.  The  situation  just  before 
it  was  made  was  as  follows: 

All  the  troops  in  the  command  except  Battery 
K  and  Colonel  Howard's  Marine  Artillery 
were  sheltered  from  the  view  of  the  enemy  by 
the  woods.  The  position  of  the  rebels  was  on 
the  farther  side  of  a  level  clearing.  The  land 


"  INTO  THE  MOUTH  OF  HELL."  177 

being  perfectly  flat  and  presenting  the  appear 
ance  of  having  been  reclaimed  from  the  swamp. 
It  was  in  the  "  Dismal  Swamp "  country. 
The  several  fields  were  separated  by  deep 
ditches,  apparently  for  drainage  purposes, 
with  rail  fences  on  top  of  the  dykes.  The 
enemy's  infantry  occupied  one  of  the  ditches 
at  the  edge  of  the  woods  on  the  farther  side 
of  the  field,  which  made  an  excellent  rifle-pit, 
affording  good  protection  to  their  men.  The 
farm  buildings  had  been  burned,  leaving  the 
perfectly  level  plantation  without  the  slightest 
protection  to,  or  any  spot  which  could  be  used  as 
a  coign  of  vantage  by,  advancing  troops,  while 
the  ditches  were  partly  filled  with  burning  rails, 
the  smoke  from  which  deceived  as  to  distance. 
The  charging  Zouaves  naturally  expected  to 
find  the  riflemen  where  the  clouds  of  smoke 
were  rising.  The  regiment  advanced  deliber 
ately  into  this  field,  marching  by  the  flank, 
moved  "  forward  into  line,"  and  received  the 
order  to  charge  with  the  bayonet.  The  enemy 
did  not  open  their  musketry  fire  until  the 
Zouaves  had  advanced  some  distance.  When 
they  did  open  fire  a  literal  rain  of  grape,  shrap 
nel  and  bullets  swept  the  exhausted  men 
before  it.  They  fell  like  grain  before  the 
sickle.  The  entire  loss  of  the  regiment  occur 
red  here  in  an  incredibly  short  time.  Colonel 


178    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Hawkins  and  Major  Jardine  were  wounded, 
while  Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball  had  his 
horse  shot  from  under  him,  and  in  his  fall  was 
temporarily  disabled — he  was  the  only  mounted 
officer  present. 

At  least  two  of  the  senior  captains  were 
hors  de  combat,  the  adjutant  killed,  and  no 
one  for  the  moment  knew  who  was  in  com 
mand.  Even  under  these  desperate  conditions 
the  regiment  did  not  give  way.  The  men 
recoiled  for  an  instant,  but  responding  at  once 
to  the  commands  of  the  surviving  officers,  again 
attempted  to  advance.  The  deadly  fire  of  the 
enemy  was  steadily  maintained  without  cessa 
tion,  the  artillerists  continued  to  fire  low, 
grapeshot  skimming  along  the  surface  of  the 
ground  like  swallows,  and  plainly  visible  to  the 
eye.  There  was  no  opportunity  to  inflict  any 
damage  on  the  enemy  as  they  were  completely 
masked  by  the  smoke  from  the  ditches  and 
from  their  own  guns.  They  exhibited  good 
strategy  in  utilizing  the  ditches,  for  in  those 
where  the  rails  had  been  consumed  the  ground 
was  still  too  hot  to  be  used  by  the  men  of 
the  Ninth  for  shelter,  and  their  exposed  posi 
tion  in  the  open  ground  was  preferable  to 
roasting,  even  in  "the  last  ditch." 

Human  nature  could  not  long  withstand  this 
fire  of  iron  and  lead.  To  advance  was  impos- 


IN  THE  MIDST  OF  BA  TTLE.          1 79 

sible,  while  to  turn  their  backs  to  the  foe  was 
not  in  the  province  of  the  Zouaves.  Some  one 
gave  the  order  "right  oblique,"  and  the  regi 
ment  moved  to  the  shelter  of  the  woods  on  the 
right. 

A  regiment  which  could  not  be  fully  identi 
fied  but  believed  to  be  the  8gth  New  York, 
double-quicked  out  of  the  wood  to  the  right  and 
rear  of  the  "  Ninth,"  and  gaining  a  position 
where  they  could  fire  past  the  left-flank  of  the 
regiment,  halted,  came  to  a  front  and  began 
firing  by  wing  as  steadily  and  apparently  as 
methodically  as  though  on  drill,  the  volleys 
following  each  other  with  as  much  regularity  as 
if  at  practice  on  the  parade-ground.  This 
created  a  diversion  in  favor  of  the  "  Ninth," 
which  gained  the  shelter  of  the  woods  without 
much  further  loss,  where  it  was  instantly  re 
formed  by  Kimball  (who  had  recovered  from 
his  accident)  when  they  again  advanced  and 
occupied  the  enemy's  line  with  no  more  casual 
ties. 

Reno  had  promptly  thrown  forward  his  other 
regiments  in  order  to  support  and  make  a 
diversion  in  favor  of  the  "Ninth,"  all  instantly 
advancing  and  opening  fire.  This  was  too 
much  for  the  "Johnnies"  who  had  "shot  their 
bolt,"  and  they  retreated  in  disorder  leaving 
everything  in  the  nature  of  camp  equipage 


ISO   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

behind  them,  though  managing  to  save  their 
artillery.  The  Union  troops  were  too  exhausted 
to  pursue  the  enemy  and  the  Zouaves  occu 
pied  their  abandoned  brush  shelters. 

Adjutant  Charles  A.  Gadsden,  who  met  his 
death  in  this  battle  had  recently  been  commis 
sioned  in  the  regiment,  and  reported  for  duty 
about  two  weeks  previous  to  this  engagement, 
and  in  that  short  period  had  gained  the  good 
opinion  of  officers  and  men.  He  died  gallantly 
at  the  head  of  the  regiment  in  the  honorable 
performance  of  his  duties  as  a  soldier. 

He  had  been  a  member  of  the  yth  New  York 
State  Militia,  had  thoroughly  studied  his  duties 
as  adjutant,  and  was  doubtless  gratified  to  be 
assigned  to  a  regiment  where  his  knowledge 
would  prove  of  benefit  and  be  duly  appreciated. 
Lieutenant  Gadsden  reported  to  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Kimball  for  duty,  and  was  present  at 
dress-parade  on  the  first  evening  of  his  arrival 
in  camp.  After  seeing  the  parade  he  concluded 
that  for  the  present,  at  least,  it  would  be  better  to 
learn  than  to  teach,  so  he  asked  for  and  received 
permission  to  postpone  the  assumption  of  his 
duties  for  one  week.  He  was  killed  exactly  one 
week  after  assuming  his  position  as  adjutant  of 
the  regiment. 

After  consultation  among  the  superior  officers 
on  the  night  of  the  battle  it  was  decided  that  a 


OUT  OF  A  BAD  PREDICAMENT.  181 

retreat  was  the  proper  move.  This  decision  was 
reached  by  reviewing  the  facts  that  some  of  the 
regiments  had  exhausted  their  ammunition ; 
that  the  navy  could  not  effect  a  junction  with 
General  Reno  at  the  bridge ;  that  the  troops 
were  far  from  their  base  of  supplies  while  the 
enemy  was  in  his  own  country  and  could  be 
quickly  reinforced ;  that  the  men  were  too 
much  exhausted  to  risk  a  battle  against  a 
superior  force  such  as  the  enemy  might  be  able 
to  assemble;  that  the  wounded  could  better  be 
moved  at  once  than  at  a  later  time,  and  espe 
cially  as  General  Reno  had  been  ordered  not 
to  risk  a  disaster.  Therefore,  it  was  deemed 
prudent  to  retire,  and  between  nine  and  ten 
o'clock  at  night,  the  men  having  been  quietly 
awakened  by  the  first  sergeants,  the  troops 
began  their  journey  back  to  the  transports. 
Some  of  the  wounded,  who  were  unable  to  ride 
in  army  wagons,  were  left  behind  in  charge  of 
Surgeon  Warren,  of  the  2ist  Massachusetts. 
Chaplain  Conway,  of  the  Ninth,  also  remained 
behind  to  assist  the  surgeon  in  his  duties.  His 
careful  attention  and  almost  womanly  kindness 
and  sympathy  were  greatly  appreciated  by  the 
wounded  soldiers. 

Soon  after  the  battle  and  when  the  enemy 
had  retreated  rain  began  falling.  It  gradu 
ally  increased  as  the  evening  advanced  until  at 


182   NIN'IH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

ten  o'clock  it  was  pouring  in  torrents.  It 
continued  all  night  and  as  the  men  plodded  on, 
the  roads,  which  in  the  morning  they  had  found 
thickly  covered  with  choking  dust,  were  now 
deep  in  slippery  mud.  The  soldiers  slipped, 
stumbled  and  plunged  along  in  the  darkness, 
silent  as  to  speech  and  melancholy  as  to  spirits. 
When  a  halt  was  ordered  for  a  few  moments' 
rest  no  consideration  was  given  to  water  or 
mud,  but  each  man  was  glad  to  sink  down  where 
he  stood  in  the  road,  utterly  indifferent  to  the 
kind  of  resting  place  he  found  there.  Soon 
after  daylight  dull  eyes  were  brightened  by  the 
sight  of  Shantilly,  near  which  the  transports 
were  left,  and  the  tired  troops  hustled  aboard, 
the  Fourth  Brigade  having  engaged  the  enemy 
and  marched  over  forty  miles  in  heat,  dust, 
mud,  darkness,  and  rain,  all  in  about  twenty- 
six  hours. 

No  time  was  lost  in  getting  into  bunks  and 
no  case  of  insomnia  is  recorded,  yet  many  a 
rain-soaked  soldier,  ere  his  eyes  closed  in 
slumber,  thought  of  the  fortunate  sailor  who 
always  has  his  house,  bunk,  blankets,  and  grub 
with  him,  where  moth  and  rust  do  not  corrupt, 
and  where  mud  and  rain  do  not  break  in  and 
permeate. 

The  transports  did  not  reach  Roanoke  Island 
until  five  o'clock  that  afternoon.  There  was, 


RE  TR  OSPECTION.  183 

therefore,  some  time  forrest  and  for  the  drying 
of  clothing.  The  uniforms  of  the  men  were  in  a 
lamentable  condition  from  the  clay  gathered 
on  the  long  march,  and  could  not  be  cleaned 
until  it  dried. 

With  rest  came  opportunity  for  retrospection 
—not  always  pleasant  after  battle,  when  one's 
intimates  are  among  those  lying  stark  on  the 
battlefield  or  among  those  nursing  their  wounds 
in  hospital  or  under  the  knife  of  the  surgeon. 
In  this  instance  many  of  the  wrounded  had  been 
left  on  the  field,  where,  if  they  survived,  they 
were  sure  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy, 
whose  reputation  for  kind  treatment  was  not 
good. 

In  Company  F  was  a  number  of  Germans 
who  either  tented  together  or  in  adjoining  tents 
or  quarters.  They  formed  quite  a  little  colony, 
and  it  pleased  the  other  boys  to  allude  to  the 
locality  where  the  Germans  were  as  "  Dutch 
Alley/'  One  of  the  members  of  Company  F 
was  observed  sitting  on  a  gun-carriage,  his 
elbows  on  his  knees  and  his  chin  in  his  hands, 
ruminating,  probably,  on  the  incidents  of  the 
fight.  After  moodily  sitting  in  this  position  for 
some  moments  he  suddenly  straightened  up, 
having  apparently  finished  his  cogitations, 
heaved  the  usual  sigh  and  remarked,  almost 
cheerfully :  "  Well,  Dutch  Alley  got  cleaned 


184   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

out,  didn't  it?"  And  Dutch  Alley  had  been 
cleaned  out,  for  nearly  every  one  of  the 
Germans  had  been  either  killed  or  wounded 
in  this  battle. 

It  was  curious  to  note  the  peculiarity  of  many 
of  the  wounds  received  by  the  men  in  this 
battle,  as  also  the  eccentric  courses  of  some 
of  the  missiles.  One  of  the  Zouaves  retained 
and  brought  back  with  him  his  musket  which 
had  been  struck  twice  during  the  engagement 
One  of  the  missiles  struck  and  bent  the  bayonet 
at  a  right  angle  to  the  barrel,  and  immediately 
after  the  stock  was  struck  and  bent  at  the  same 
angle  but  in  the  opposite  direction.  Its 
appearance  was  then  best  represented  by  the 
letter  Z. 

Private  Hartenfelts,  of  Company  F,  had  both 
his  thumbs  shot  away  at  the  second  joint  A 
bullet  entered  the  mouth  of  Private  Kelly, 
Company  F,  which  probably  struck  his  teeth 
and  was  deflected  thereby,  and  passed  upward 
through  the  nasal  bones  lodging  between  his 
eyes.  The  bullet  was  extracted,  the  wound 
healed,  and  he  returned  to  duty,  serving  with 
his  company  until  the  muster  out  of  the  regi 
ment  Eventually,  however,  although  several 
years  after  the  close  of  the  war,  the  wound 
caused  his  death. 

A  bullet  struck  one  of  the   men  full  on  his 


RETURN  TRIP  TO  ROANOKE  ISLAND.  185 

waist-belt  plate,  but  although  it   was  a  heavy 
blow  and  quite  a  shock  no  ill  effects  followed. 

A  briar-wood  pipe  carried  in  the  trousers' 
pocket  of  Private  Sloper,  Company  C,  was 
struck  by  a  ball  which  was  probably  pretty 
well  spent  of  its  force.  Upon  investigation, 
Sloper  found  that  he  was  not  injured,  but  he 
found  the  bullet  lodged  in  the  bowl  of  the  pipe. 

Many  other  instances  are  authentically,  and 
it  is  believed  truthfully,  told  of  peculiar  wounds 
and  almost  miraculous  escapes. 

On  the  return  trip  to  Roanoke  Island  Sur 
geon  Humphrey  was  very  busy  performing 
operations,  dressing  wounds,  relieving  the  pain 
of  contusions,  nursing  the  sick,  giving  here  a 
soothing  potion,  there  a  reassuring  word  of 
encouragement.  He  seemed  to  be  everywhere 
at  every  moment,  which  if  it  was  not  so  of  his 
physical  presence,  it  was  actually  so  of  his  in 
fluence.  His  ministrations  were,  indeed,  cease 
less,  nor  would  he  rest  until  all  were  made 
comfortable  in  their  old  quarters  on  terra  firma. 

The  official  record  states  that  the  total  Union 
loss  of  the  battle  of  South  Mills  was  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven,  including  thirteen 
killed.  Of  these  the  Zouaves  lost  one  officer 
and  seven  enlisted  men  killed,  seven  officers 
and  fifty-four  enlisted  men  wounded,  and  six 
enlisted  men  missing ;  making  a  total  of  sev- 


186   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

enty-five.  This  was  nearly  sixty  per  cent,  of 
the  entire  loss,  and  it  was  sustained  in  the 
short  period  of  about  two  minutes. 

For  a  time  after  their  return  to  Roanoke  the 
men  were  subdued  and  quiet.  There  was  less 
mischief  and  more  philosophy.  But  young  and 
bouyant  spirits  could  not  mourn  long,  so  a  few 
days  saw  the  past  buried  and  the  Ninth  was 
itself  again  with  the  old  exuberant  spirit. 

The  following  official  reports  from  several 
sources  may  prove  of  interest  to  the  many 
friends  of  the  Zouaves. 

Extracts  from  General  Reno's  report,  April 
22,  1862  : 


"I  proceeded  from  Newberne  with  the  2ist  Massachusetts  and 
Pennsylvania  to  Roanoke,  and  was  there  joined  by  the  gth  and  Sgth 
New  York  and  6th  New  Hampshire. 

"  We  proceeded  directly  to  Elizabeth  City  and  began  disembarking 
on  the  igth  inst.,  at  midnight,  at  a  point  about  three  miles  below  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river.  By  3  A.  M.,  Colonel  Hawkins"  brigade  was 
landed  and  ready  to  move.  I  ordered  Hawkins  to  proceed  at  once  to 
South  Mills  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  demonstration  on  Norfolk.  I 
remained  to  bring  up  the  2ist  Massachusetts  and  sist  Pennsylvania, 
they  having  been  delayed  by  their  vessels  getting  aground  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river.  They  came  up  at  daylight  and  were  landed  by  7  A.  M. 
I  proceeded  directly  toward  South  Mills,  and  about  twelve  miles  out 
met  Hawkins'  brigade,  who,  it  seems,  lost  his  way  either  by  the 
treachery  or  incompetency  of  his  guide,  he  having  marched  some  ten 
miles  out  of  his  way. 

"As  his  men  were  very  much  jaded  by  their  long  march,  I  ordered 
them  to  follow  the  second  brigade.  Proceeding  about  four  miles 
farther,  to  within  one  and  one-half  miles  of  South  Mills,  the  rebels 
opened  upon  us  with  artillery  before  my  advance  guard  discovered 
them.  I  immediately  reconnoitered  their  position  and  found  that  they 
were  posted  in  an  advantageous  position,  in  a  line  perpendicular  to 
the  road,  their  infantry  in  ditches,  and  their  artillery  commanding  all 
the  direct  approaches,  their  rear  protected  by  a  dense  forest. 


RE  NO'S  REPORT  OF  THE  BA  TTLE.       1 87 

"  I  ordered  the  sist  Pennsylvania  to  file  to  the  right  and  pass  over  to 
the  edge  of  the  woods,  to  turn  their  left,  the  2ist  Massachusetts  to 
pursue  the  same  course,  and,  when  Hawkins  came  up  with  his  brigade, 
I  sent  him  with  the  gth  and  8gth  New  York  to  their  support.  The  6th 
New  Hampshire  were  formed  in  line  to  the  left  of  the  road  to  support 
our  four  pieces  of  artillery. 

"  Owing  to  the  excessive  fatigue  of  the  men  they  could  not  reach 
their  position  for  some  time.  Meantime  the  enemy  kept  up  a  brisk 
artillery  fire  which  was  gallantly  responded  to  by  Colonel  Howard,  of 
the  Coast  Guard,  who  during  the  entire  engagement  displayed  most 
conspicuous  gallantry,  and  rendered  very  efficient  service  both  during 
the  action  and  upon  the  return,  he  bringing  up  the  rear. 

"  Soon  as  the  sist  Pennsylvania  and  the  2ist  Massachusetts  had  suc 
ceeded  in  turning  their  left,  they  opened  a  brisk  musketry  fire,  and 
about  the  same  time  the  gth  New  York,  also  coming  into  range  and 
being  too  eager  to  engage,  unfortunately  charged  upon  the  enemy's 
artillery.  It  was  a  most  gallant  charge,  but  they  were  exposed  to  a 
most  deadly  fire  of  canister,  grape  and  musketry,  and  were  forced  to 
retire,  but  rallied  immediately  on  the  8gth  New  York.  I  then  ordered 
both  regiments  to  form  a  junction  with  the  2ist  Massachusetts.  Mean 
time  the  sist  Pennsylvania  and  2ist  Massachusetts  kept  up  an  inces 
sant  fire  upon  the  rebels,  who  now  had  withdrawn  their  artillery  and 
had  commenced  to  retire  in  good  order.  The  6th  New  Hampshire  had 
steadily  advanced  in  line  to  the  left  of  the  road,  and  when  within 
about  two  hundred  yards  poured  in  a  most  deadly  volley  which  com 
pletely  demoralized  the  enemy  and  finished  the  battle.  Our  men  were 
so  completely  fagged  out  by  the  intense  heat  and  their  long  march  that 
we  could  not  pursue  them.  The  .men  rested  under  arms  in  line  of 
battle  until  about  10  o'clock  P.M.,  when  I  ordered  a  return  to  our  boats, 
having  accomplished  the  principal  object  of  the  expedition — conveying 
the  idea  that  the  entire  Burnside  expedition  was  marching  upon  Nor 
folk.  *  *  *  *  The  return  march  was  made  in  perfect  order,  and  few,  if 
any  stragglers  were  left  behind. 

"  Considering  that  during  the  advance  the  weather  was  intensely  hot, 
and  that  a  portion  of  the  command  had  to  march  forty-five  miles,  the 
other  thirty-five  miles,  and  fight  a  battle  in  the  meantime,  and  that  all 
was  accomplished  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours,  I  think  that  the 
commanding  general  has  every  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  his  command. 
*  *  *  *  The  enemy  had  from  six  to  ten  pieces  of  artillery,  and  from 
i, 800  to  2,000  men." 

Colonel  Hawkins'  report  was  made  to  Burn- 
side  direct,  dated  April  21,  1862,  and  was  as 
follows : 


188  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

ROANOKE  ISLAND,  N.  C. 

"Sm: — In  accordance  with  orders  from  department  headquarters,  I, 
on  the  1 8th,  at  about  n  A.M.,  embarked  on  board  of  the  transports 
about  2,000  men  of  my  brigade  from  the  following  regiments:  gth  New 
York,  727;  8gth  New  York,  625;  and  6th  New  Hampshire,  600.  In  this 
force  was  included  two  boat  guns  belonging  to  Company  K,  gth  New 
York.  About  n  o'clock  the  same  evening  my  brigade  began  landing  at 
a  place  opposite  Kobb's  Point,  about  four  miles  below  Elizabeth  City, 
on  the  Pasquotank  River. 

"  By  2.30  on  the  morning  of  the  igth,  the  landing  of  my  brigade  had 
been  completed,  including  two  field  pieces  from  the  steamer  '  Virginia;' 
this  through  the  water  where  it  was  more  than  knee  deep,  which  the 
men  were  compelled  to  wade. 

"At  3  A.M.  the  whole  brigade  was  on  the  march,  and  continued  for 
the  next  twelve  hours  on  its  weary  way  through  a  long  circuitous  route 
of  thirty-two  miles,  beneath  the  terrible  heat  of  the  sun,  amid  the  con 
stantly  rising  dust. 

"  At  about  3  P.M.  I  succeeded  in  arriving  in  sight  of  the  enemy's  posi 
tion  with  about  one-half  of  the  men  who  had  commenced  the  march, 
when  we  were  immediately  ordered  into  action,  the  6th  New  Hamp 
shire  going  to  the  left  of  the  enemy's  position,  the  gth  and  8gth  New 
York  going  to  the  right  through  the  woods  to  outflank  the  enemy  on 
each  side.  Up  to  this  time  the  part  of  a  battery  from  the  gth  New 
York  worked  by  Lieutenant  Herbert,  assisted  by  five  men  (the  rest 
having  been  worn  out  by  fatigue),  received  and  sustained  the  whole 
fire  of  the  enemy's  battery. 

"  After  marching  about  two  miles  through  a  swamp,  covered  with 
thick  undergrowth,  I  arrived  within  about  three-eights  of  a  mile  of  the 
enemy's  position,  where  they  were  concealed  in  the  woods.  After  a 
short  tour  of  observation,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  outflank  them  on  the  right,  the  undergrowth  and  swamp 
being  almost  impenetrable. 

"A  charge  through  an  open  field  directly  in  front  of  the  enemy's 
position  was  thought  to  be  the  only  way  in  which  they  could  be 
dislodged. 

"I  then  returned  to  where  I  had  left  the  gth  New  York  and  found 
them  lying  on  the  ground  completely  exhausted.  I  stated  to  the  regi 
ment  what  I  proposed  to  do,  and  asked  the  men  if  they  felt  equal  to 
the  task.  Their  answer  was:  '  We  will  try,  Colonel,  and  follow  wher 
ever  you  may  lead  us.' 

"Immediately  the  command  'Forward'  was  given,  the  gth  New 
York  taking  the  lead,  followed  by  the  8gth  New  York.  We  had  pro 
ceeded  to  within  about  200  yards  of  the  enemy's  concealed  position 
when  the  gth  New  York  received  the  full  and  direct  fire  from  the 


COL  ON  EL  HA  WKINS '  RE  FOR  T.  189 

enemy's  infantry  and  batteries.  This  completely  staggered  the  men, 
who  before  were  completely  exhausted,  and  the  order  was  given  for 
the  regiment  to  turn  to  the  right  where  it  would  be  partly  sheltered 
from  the  fire. 

"This  order  was  executed  but  slowly.  Soon  after  the  8gth  began  to 
move  forward  supported  by  the  gth  New  York,  when  the  enemy 
retreated. 

"When  this  commenced  the  6th  New  Hampshire  poured  a  volley 
into  the  right  wing  of  the  3rd  Georgia  Volunteers,  which  completely 
cut  them  to  pieces.  The  troops  then  bivouacked  upon  the  field  until 
10  P.M.,  when  they  were  ordered  to  fall  in  and  return  to  their  transports. 
It  is  seldom,  if  ever,  that  men  have  been  called  upon  to  perform  so 
much  in  so  short  a  time  as  those  who  composed  the  fourth  brigade 
under  my  command.  Marching  fifty  miles  and  fighting  a  battle  all  in 
twenty-four  hours,  you  will  admit  is  no  small  undertaking,  and  this 
was  done  without  murmur  or  complaint.  In  the  charge  of  the  gth  New 
York  that  regiment  lost,  nine  killed  and  fifty-six  wounded.  Among 
the  former  was  Lieut.  Charles  A.  Gadsden,  adjutant,  who  fell  at  the 
head  of  his  regiment.  He  was  a  kind,  considerate  man,  and  most 
excellent  soldier,  and  dies  greatly  lamented  by  all  of  his  companions. 
Colonel  Howard,  of  the  steamer  '  Virginia,'  who  was  in  command  of 
the  artillery,  has  not  yet  made  his  report,  consequently  I  am  unable  to 
give  any  particulars  concerning  his  part  in  the  engagement,  but  believe 
that  he  behaved  with  great  coolness  and  bravery  as  well  as  all  the 
officers  and  men  under  him.  Soon  after  the  troops  had  returned  to 
Roanoke  Island,  the  Rev.  T.  W.  Conway,  chaplain  of  the  gth  New 
York,  returned,  bringing  with  him  about  fifty  stragglers  and  some  of 
the  wounded  left  behind  on  the  field  of  battle.  He  remained  to  bury 
the  dead  and  to  assist  the  wounded.  On  the  morning  of  the  2oth  he 
started  out  to  find  the  rebel  pickets,  and  after  going  some  distance  he 
was  informed  that  the  rebel  pickets  had  left  the  night  before — reinforce 
ments  which  they  had  received  only  a  few  moments  before  included — 
for  Suffolk,  thinking  that  our  forces  were  by  a  flank  movement  getting 
in  their  rear  to  cut  them  off;  returned  to  the  hospital  by  way  of  the 
battle-field,  where  he  counted  thirty  of  the  enemy's  dead. 

"After  the  dead  were  buried  and  the  wounded,  who  could  not  be 
brought  away,  cared  for,  all  the  stragglers  who  could  be  found  armed 
themselves  and  started  for  the  place  of  debarkation  and  arrived  here 
in  safety  the  next  morning. 

"Although  the  results  of  this  expedition  may  seem  disastrous  on  ac 
count  of  the  loss  of  life,  still  the  reconnaissance  cannot  fail  to  be  of 
great  value  to  you  when  connected  with  future  operations.  In  justice 
to  other  regiments  I  cannot  say  what  I  should  like  to  about  the  officers 
and  men  in  my  own,  consequently  would  only  say  that  all  alike  did 
their  duty  faithfully  and  well . 


19O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

"  I  regret  to  add  that  owing  to  our  limited  transportation  we  were 
compelled  to  leave  behind  fourteen  of  our  wounded  in  care  of  Dr. 
Warren  of  the  2ist  Massachusetts,  two  or  three  of  whom  were  brought 
away  by  the  chaplain  of  the  Ninth. 

"  I  have  to-day  sent  a  flag  of  truce  by  Major  Jardine,  who  was  ac 
companied  by  the  surgeon,  chaplain,  and  ten  privates  of  the  9th  New 
York,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  back  the  wounded  and  the  bodies  of 
Lieutenant  Gadsden  and  our  dead  who  were  buried  on  the  field. 

"  Herewith  you  will  find  a  complete  list  of  the  killed,  wounded  and 
missing  of  the  fourth  brigade  in  the  action  of  the  igth. 

"  Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"RUSH   C.    HAWKINS, 

"  Colonel,  Commanding  Fourth  Brigade  and  Post. 
"  MAJOR-GENERAL  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE, 

"  Commanding  Dept.  of  North  Carolina,  Newberne,  N.  C." 

As  the  above  correspondence  is  from  the 
Official  Records,  we  append  the  following 
letter  which  is  of  interest  and  taken  from  the 
same  source : 

"HEADQUARTERS,  ROANOKE  ISLAND,  N.  C.,  April  23,  1862. 

"SiR: — Doubtless  the  unfortunate  occurrence  of  the  igth  has  been 
brought  fully  to  your  notice.  No  one  can  regret  the  result  more  than 
myself. 

"First,  because  of  the  loss  of  life  ;  second,  the  object  of  the  expe 
dition  not  being  accomplished  after  all  the  obstacles  in  the  way  had 
been  removed. 

"  It  seems  that  both  sides  were  badly  frightened.  The  enemy  ran 
like  quarter-horses  toward  Norfolk,  and  we  as  fast  as  our  weary  legs 
would  carry  us  toward  Roanoke,  leaving  quite  a  number  of  our 
wounded  and  destroying  the  bridges  behind  us.  In  this  connection  I 
will  only  add  our  retirement  was  discretion,  our  valor  having  been 
wholly  spent  on  the  field  of  battle.  There  is  one  satisfaction  that  we 
whipped  them  like  the  devil  in  their  own  well  chosen  position. 

"  They  acknowledged  to  have  had  three  companies  of  the  Georgia 
Third  completely  cut  to  pieces,  and  from  this  acknowledgment  it  is 
but  fair  to  infer  their  loss  was  much  greater.  Their  force,  as  near  as 
I  can  ascertain,  was  the  Georgia  Third,  1,165  strong  ;  a  battery  of 
Henningsen's  artillery  of  four  pieces,  and  some  North  Carolina  Militia, 
number  not  known,  and  a  full  squadron  of  Suffolk  and  Southampton 
cavalry.  This  statement  of  the  enemy's  forces  I  believe  to  be  very 
nearly  correct.  I  most  cordially  join  in  the  recommendations  of  the 


OFFICIAL  CORRESPONDENCE.  191 

surgeons,  that  the  wounded  be  removed  North  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
that  a  steamer,  made  comfortable  by  the  necessary  beds,  etc.,  be  sent 
here  for  that  purpose  at  the  earliest  moment.  They  can  be  of  no  ser 
vice  here  and  will  recover  much  more  rapidly  at  the  North,  besides 
relieving  our  surgeons,  who  are  already  worn  out  by  their  arduous 
labors. 

11  Owing  to  the  little  wound  received  in  my  left  arm  in  the  affair  of 
the  igth  I  am  compelled,  by  the  advice  of  surgeons,  to  lay  up  in  ordi 
nary  for  repairs,  much  against  my  desire  or  inclination.  They  say  it 
will  be  eight  weeks  before  I  am  fit  for  service.  Under  such  circum 
stances,  being  forbidden  to  perform  any  labor,  I  would  ask  for  leave 
of  absence  until  such  time  as  I  am  able  to  return  to  duty,  which  shall 
be  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  But,  still,  if  you  cannot  spare  me, 
I  will  remain  and  render  such  service  as  I  am  able  to  perform  lying  on 
my  back.  I  know  and  can  dictate  what  ought  to  be  done. 

"  I  should  be  very  happy  to  see  you  here,  as  I  have  much  to  say  to 
you  that  I  cannot  write.  Most  faithfully  your  friend  and  servant, 

"RUSH  C.  HAWKINS, 

'    Commanding  Post." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

NINTH  NEW  YORK  GARRISONS  ROANOKE  ISLAND— RE 
CREATION  THE  ORDER  OF  THE  DAY  — PRACTICAL 
USES  OF  CAPTURED  POWDER— COMPANY  K'S  NEW 
BATTERY  TACTICS— INNOCENTLY  GETTING  SQUARE 
WITH  THE  COMPANY  COOK— TESTIMONIAL  TO  COL. 
HAWKINS  — PARADE  AND  DRILL  OF  NINTH  UNDER 
COMMAND  OF  NON-COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS— NEW 
RECRUITS  TROUBLED  WITH  "  LAPSY  PALLS  "  CURED 
BY  SERGEANT  HORNER  —  LIEUTENANT  FLUSSER, 
U.  S.  N.,  CAPTURES  PLYMOUTH  AND  COMPANY  "F" 
DETAILED  TO  GARRISON  TOWN— RUNAWAY  SLAVES 
RETURNED  TO  OWNER  — WESSEL'S  BRIGADE  RE 
LIEVES  COMPANY  "F,"  — ENEMY  ATTACK  AND  DE 
FEAT  WESSEL,  RE-CAPTURE  PLYMOUTH  AND  KILL 
FLUSSER  — BURNSIDE  LEAVES  FOR  FORT  MONROE - 
NINTH  LEAVES  ROANOKE  FOR  NORFOLK— CAMP  FOR 
CONTRABANDS— LOSSES  OF  BURNSIDE  EXPEDITION. 

AFTER  the  battle  of  South  Mills  and  the 
return  of  the  regiment  to  Roanoke  Island 
the  Zouaves  were  allowed  a  few  days  for  rest 
and  recuperation,  when  they  settled  down  for 
what  proved  to  be  a  protracted  stay  on  this 
isolated  spot.  The  regular  routine  of  drill  was 
not  calculated  to  make  them  thoroughly  con- 


RECREA TION  SOUGHT  FOR.  1 93 

tented  with  the  situation,  and  idleness  fostered 
the  spirit  of  homesickness.  The  longing  for 
home  was  increased  when  the  wounded  re 
turned  from  furlough  and  related  the  manner 
in  which  they  were  received ;  how  everyone 
considered  them  genuine  heroes  and  treated 
them  as  such,  and  no  little  heart-burning  arose 
when  the  tales  were  told,  with  somewhat  of  a 
swagger,  of  the  tender  solicitude  displayed  by 
their  acquaintances  of  the  opposite  sex,  who 
never  tired  of  hearing  them  repeat  their  experi 
ences  in  Dixie. 

It  was  decided  that  some  radical  departure 
must  be  made  to  lift  the  lads  out  of  the 
"  slough  of  despond "  and  make  them  forget 
their  loneliness.  A  reading-room  and  post 
office  was  established,  also  a  debating  club 
where  regular  meetings  were  held  and  numer 
ous  subjects  discussed  and  argued.  Several 
baseball  clubs  were  organized,  while  some  of 
the  companies  erected  various  kinds  of  gym 
nastic  apparatus,  and  much  skill  was  shown  in 
the  acrobatic  feats  which  followed,  while  the 
sparring  and  wrestling  matches  would  have 
delighted  the  eyes  of  a  professional. 

A  further  proof  of  the  talent  to  be  found  in 
the  regiment,  and  which  while  not  exactly  "  hid 
under  a  bushel,"  was  so  modest  as  not  to 
attract  general  attention,  was  the  success  which 


194   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

attended  the  formation  of  "  The  Zouave  Min 
strel  and  Dramatic  Club." 

There  was  some  doubts  expressed  at  first  re 
garding  the  success  of  the  projected  undertak 
ing,  but  no  sooner  had  the  determination  to 
have  a  show  in  camp  taken  definite  shape  than 
it  was  discovered  that  there  were  plenty  of  men 
in  the  regiment  well  qualified  to  fill  every  posi 
tion  in  a  theatrical  company  from  that  of 
manager  to  stage  doorkeeper. 

The  company  was  well  chosen  and  well  man 
aged.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball,  who  was 
in  command  of  the  regiment  at  the  time  and 
was  heartily  in  favor  of  the  project,  assisted  the 
organizers  in  every  way  possible.  A  building 
was  assigned  to  them  which,  after  a  few  enter 
tainments  had  been  given,  was  found  to  be  en 
tirely  too  small,  and  it  was  arranged  to  provide 
them  with  a  larger  one,  which  after  being  fitted 
up  properly  would  accommodate  five  hundred 
persons.  This  was  soon  transformed  into  a 
very  respectable  theatre. 

Robert  L.  Cutler,  of  Company  D,  was  gen 
eral  manager  as  well  as  stage  manager,  and 
also  "went  on"  in  some  of  the  plays.  He  was 
a  man  of  versatile  talents,  and  although  little 
more  than  a  boy  in  years,  had  been  connected 
professionally  with  a  Broadway  theatrical  com 
pany  before  the  war.  He  wrote  a  burlesque  on 


THE  "STARS"  ON  THE  PROGRAMME.  19S 

Richard  III,  in  which  he  appeared  in  one  of  the 
leading  parts,  and  which  proved  to  be  a  great 
success. 

The  scene  painter  was  G.  W.  Roberts,  of 
Company  A,  who  belonged  to  a  family  of  artists. 
He  is  still,  at  this  writing,  a  prominent  scene 
painter,  as  was  also  his  father  before  him.  Wil 
bur  F.  Curtis,  of  Company  B,  was  the  orchestra 
leader,  and  was  as  thoroughly  devoted  to  his 
work  and  fully  as  successful  in  his  limited 
sphere  as  though  he  were  nightly  receiving  the 
applause  of  Metropolitan  audiences. 

Among  the  other  members  of  the  company 
were  Andrew  Thompson,  of  Company  A,  vocal 
ist  as  well  as  actor,  who  was  heard  in  many 
songs,  among  them  "  Gently  Breathe  the  Tender 
Sigh,"  "  Simon  the  Cellarer,"  etc.;  William 
Burns,  of  Company  "K";  William  Renner,  of 
Company  F,  whose  proper  name  seemed  to 
have  been  forgotten  by  his  comrades,  and  who 
was  known  throughout  the  regiment,  and  even 
appeared  on  the  play-bill  by  his  sobriquet  of 
"  Corporal  Casey";  Thomas  Fisher,  of  Company 
"  B,"  the  great  and  successful  delineator  of 
female  character  parts,  and  who  was  known 
among  the  men  of  the  regiment  as  "Kate 
Fisher";  Walter  Nolan,  of  Company  E,  who 
performed  Irish  characters  and  sang  Irish 
songs;  Hospital  Steward  William  Grobecker, 


196   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Company  A  ;  Sergeant  Al.  Salisbury,  of  Com 
pany  A,  a  member  of  the  chorus,  but  who  often 
sang  "  The  Boy  with  the  Auburn  Hair ;"  James 
Fitzgerald,  of  Company  A,  delighted  the  boys 
with  the  ballad  "  The  Southern  Groves ;"  Peter 
L.  Drew,  of  Company  A,  who  was  not  only  an 
actor  of  some  merit,  but  was  a  jig  dancer  who 
had  few  equals  ;  Walter  L.  Thompson,  of  Com 
pany  I,  who  not  only  performed  in  the  "  legiti 
mate  drama,"  but  was  the  "  end  man  "  in  the 
minstrel  show ;  Robert  M.  Johnston,  Company 
H,  character  singer  and  balladist,  as  well  as 
actor,  who  sang  the  character  songs  of  "  Lord 
Lovell,"  "Billy  Barlow,"  "Reuben  Wright," 
"  Bacon  and  Greens,"  and  the  "  Cork  Leg,"  to 
the  great  admiration  of  appreciative  audiences ; 
J.  C.  Julius  Langbein,  of  Company  B,  better 
known  throughout  the  regiment  as  "Jennie  the 
drummer,"  appeared  as  "Mary"  in  an  original 
production  entitled,  "  A  Kiss  in  the  Dark"; 
Frank  Mergarthaler,  of  Company  A,  who  de 
lighted  the  boys  with  his  "  Essence  of  Old 
Virginny." 

The  "  nigger "  minstrel  performance,  which 
was  a  part  of  the  entertainment,  also  carried  off 
high  honors,  and  will  always  be  remembered 
by  the  Roanoke  survivors ;  but  the  part  of  the 
performances  longest  and  most  pleasantly 
remembered  by  a  majority  of  the  regiment  was 


PROCURING  "PROPERTIES"   UNDER  DIFFICULTIES.   197 

the  singing  by  the  quartette.  This  part  of  the 
program  was  seldom  omitted  and  was  always 
awaited  with  great  interest. 

The  quartette  as  per  programme,  was  com 
posed  of  the  following  voices, 

ROBERT  M.  JOHNSTON,  .        .        FIRST  TENOR. 
JAMES  FITZGERALD,        .        .  SECOND  TENOR. 

ALEX.  F.  HAMILTON,  .-       .         ALTO 
ANDREW  THOMPSON,      .        .  BASS. 

Each  one  of  these  comrades  was  the  fortunate 
possessor  of  a  superior  and  well-trained  voice, 
and  while  none  of  them  were  professional 
singers  each  one  had  been  closely  connected 
with  amateur  musical  societies,  and  were  more 
or  less  accustomed  to  appearing  in  public.  In 
the  estimation  of  their  comrades  in  the  regi 
ment  none  of  them  would  lose  anything  by 
comparison,  either  as  a  quartette  or  as  soloists 
with  many  of  the  greater  lights  of  the  profes 
sional  stage. 

The  question  of  procuring  properties  which 
would  enable  them  to  make  a  proper  presenta 
tion  of  the  various  plays  taxed  the  ingenuity  of 
the  managers  and  the  members  of  the  company 
to  the  utmost  limit,  but  as  necessity  is  the 
mother  of  invention,  it — the  necessity  aforesaid 
—together  with  the  ingenuity  possessed,  of 
which  there  appeared  to  be  an  inexhaustible 
supply,  enabled  them  to  overcome  all  difficulties. 


198   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

The  apparent  impossibility  of  procuring  curled 
hair  for  the  wigs  necessary  for  the  minstrel 
band  had  at  the  beginning  almost  brought  them 
to  the  verge  of  despair  when  an  idea  occurred 
to  one  of  them.  It  resulted  in  a  sudden  and 
extraordinary  interest  being  shown  by  certain 
men  in  the  regiment  in  the  welfare  and  also  the 
personal  appearance  of  the  negroes  about  camp, 
especially  the  ones  with  long  wool.  Mission 
aries  appeared  among  them  preaching  the  gos 
pel  of  cleanliness  and  neatness ;  but  every  ex 
hortation  ended  with  advice  against  the  wearing 
of  long  hair.  They  were  told  of  the  many  evils 
attending  such  a  practice  and  of  the  unhealth- 
fulness  of  it,  and  as  the  exhorter  removed  his 
own  head  covering  and  slapped  his  clean 
shaven  poll,  he  dilated  on  the  comfort  that 
attended  a  close  crop.  All  this  was  to  try  to 
induce  the  darkies  to  sacrifice  some  of  their 
wool  for  the  benefit  of  histrionic  art.  Little  or 
no  progress  was  made  until  it  was  shown  the 
negroes  by  unassailable  arguments  that  they 
could  never  successfully  aspire  to  be  soldiers 
while  they  wore  long  hair ;  that  all  soldiers 
wore  their  hair  short,  therefore,  if  they  wished 
to  be  soldiers  they  must  do  likewise.  This 
made  a  few  converts,  and  some  material  for 
wigs  was  forthcoming.  It  was  necessary,  how 
ever,  before  the  supply  fully  equalled  the  de- 


A  SUCCESSFUL  '  <  SEASON. "  199 

mand,  to  fall  back  to  first  principles  and  revive 
Rob  Roy's  rule.  The  negroes  who  were  the 
owners  of  the  kind  of  head  covering  coveted, 
were  kidnapped,  carried  to  a  squad-room,  kept 
quiet  by  dire  threats,  their  wool  deftly  and 
swiftly  removed  by  a  Zouave  armed  with  a  pair 
of  shears,  and  the  shorn  victims  sent  on  their 
way  as  bald  as  babies.  In  this  way  sufficient 
wool  was  secured  to  finish  the  number  of  wigs 
required. 

When  the  theatre  was  first  fitted  up  a  private 
box  was  not  forgotten  and  one  was  built  and 
gayly  decorated  for  the  use  of  General  Burnside 
who,  while  on  a  tour  of  inspection  on  the  island, 
was  invited  to  attend  the  play.  The  box  was 
afterward  reserved  for  Colonel  Hawkins  and 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball,  or  any  visiting 
officer  of  rank. 

A  regular  admission  fee  was  charged  and 
the  "season"  proved  so  successful  that  the 
managers,  after  paying  all  expenses,  placed  as 
a  first  contribution  the  sum  of  $364.00  in  the 
hands  of  Chaplain  Conway,  with  instructions  to 
distribute  the  amount  equitably  among  the 
widows  of  the  members  of  the  regiment  who 
thus  far  had  given  their  lives  for  their  country. 
Crowds  came  from  all  the  camps  on  the  island, 
numbers  frequently  were  turned  away,  and 
many  returned  to  camp  in  disappointment. 


2OO  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

The  natives  were  simply  astounded  at  the  ease 
and  facility  with  which  soldiers  acted  the 
various  parts. 

The  entertainments  were  given  ordinarily 
about  once  a  week.  To  have  given  them  more 
frequently  would  have  interfered  too  much 
with  the  regular  routine  of  the  camp,  and  prop- 
ably  have  been  detrimental  to  discipline. 

On  the  nights  when  the  theatre  was  open  it 
was  necessary  for  all  visitors  to  be  provided 
with  passes,  for  while  the  building  was  inside 
the  regimental  guard  line  it  was  always  after 
tatoo  before  the  performance  ended  and  visitors 
from  outside,  both  citizens  and  soldiers,  had  to 
be  safely  escorted  out  of  camp  by  their  indi 
vidual  hosts.  However,  "  the  largest  liberty 
compatible  with  law  "  was  accorded  to  all  who 
were  not  on  duty  on  those  evenings. 

Among  the  stores  found  on  the  island  at  the 
time  of  the  capture  was  a  quantity  of  damaged 
powder.  This  was  not  "taken  up  "  by  the  or 
dinance  officer  of  the  army,  as  it  was  considered 
worthless  for  military  purposes,  but  was  per 
mitted  to  remain  in  the  magazine  at  Camp  Reno, 
and  was  cared  for  so  that  it  did  not  further 
deteriorate.  It  was  afterwards  the  means  of 
furnishing  a  great  deal  of  amusement  as  well 
as  instruction  to  the  men  of  the  regiment. 
Considerable  quantities  of  it  were  issued  to 


PRACTICAL   USES  OF  CAPTURED  POWDER.        2O1 

the  several  companies  and  sufficient  good  car 
tridges  were  always  found  for  target  practice. 
With  these  Company  K  was  enabled  to  obtain 
some  valuable  artillery  experience,  not  only 
with  their  own  guns  but  also  with  the  heavier 
ones  mounted  on  the  forts.  This  was  a  great 
saving  of  the  precious  government  cartridges. 
To  discharge  a  government  cartridge  except 
in  battle  was  next  in  point  of  heniousness  to 
murder.  In  camp  and  on  the  march  the  men 
were  obliged  to  account  for  each  cartridge 
issued  to  them.  If  this  was  not  done  Uncle 
Sam,  who  held  company  commanders  person 
ally  responsible,  would  stop  from  their  monthly 
pay  the  money  value  of  ammunition  unac 
counted  for.  Besides  being  of  great  service 
much  fun  was  provided  the  men.  There  were 
improvised  Fourth  of  July  celebrations,  mining 
operations  on  the  line  of  original  ideas,  and  all 
kinds  of  wild  pranks. 

Some  of  K's  men  organized  a  light  battery 
after  a  somewhat  ingenious  fashion.  They  pro 
cured  six  wheelbarrows  from  the  quartermaster, 
and  on  each  one  fastened  an  old  musket  selected 
from  among  the  captured  arms.  Then,  with  an 
active  youth  between  the  handles  of  each  barrow, 
to  perform  the  part  of  a  battery  team,  they  would 
occupy  the  parade  ground  between  drills,  and 
give  as  fine  an  exhibition  of  light-battery  drill 


202    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

and  practice  as  could  be  desired.  All  their  ev 
olutions  were  performed  in  strict  accordance 
with  artillery  tactics,  and  they  were  always  sure 
of  a  good  sized  audience,  who  were  quite  gen 
erous  in  their  applause. 

There  was  one  occurrence  in  camp,  in  which 
the  captured  cartridges  played  a  prominent  part 
Just  before  dress-parade  one  evening,  two  pri 
vates  of  Company  G — George  Teller  and  John 
Weaver — were  seen  working  industriously  in 
the  middle  of  the  company  street,  endeavoring 
to  reduce  a  large,  knotty,  live  oak  stump  into 
fragments  of  convenient  size  for  their  fireplace. 
They  worked  away  steadily  until  the  bugle 
sounded  "  first  call "  for  parade,  when  they  hur 
ried  to  quarters,  put  on  their  equipments  and 
marched  with  the  company  to  the  "  color  line." 
One  suspicious  circumstance  in  the  manoeuvers 
of  the  men  was  the  carelessness  with  which  they 
left  the  stump  in  the  street ;  for,  while  it  is  said 
"  there  is  honor  among  thieves,"  in  a  camp 
where  fuel  is  scarce  it  is  well  understood  that  a 
soldier  has  no  compunctions  of  conscience,  and, 
considering  this  a  case  of  abandoned  property, 
\vould  promptly  confiscate  it,  regardless  of  con 
sequences.  No  sooner  had  the  company  left 
the  street  for  the  parade  ground  than  the  com 
pany  cook,  who  had  been  secretly  observing  the 
"  stump-splitting  "  process,  stealthily  appropri- 


GETTING  SQUARE  WITH  THE  COOK.  2O3 

ated  the  log,  and  to  make  sure  that  the  rightful 
owners  should  not  wrest  it  from  him  on  their 
return  and  at  the  same  time  to  destroy  the  evi 
dence,  placed  it  at  once  on  his  fire.  Much  to 
the  cook's  \vonder,  no  inquiry  for  the  log  was 
made  after  the  parade  was  dismissed,  and 
neither  of  the  owners  appeared  to  be  in  a  frenzy 
of  indignation  over  its  loss,  nor  did  they  express 
their  ability  to  whip  the  man  who  had  stolen 
their  property,  which  was  the  usual  course  pur 
sued  on  the  loss  of  anything  of  value.  They 
retired  to  their  quarters,  without  comment 
which  led  their  comrades  to  believe — almost 
with  awe — that  they  were  unable  to  find  a 
vocabulary  violent  enough  to  express  their 
feelings.  Meanwhile  the  cook  chuckled  and 
resumed  his  work.  Sometime  later  the  com 
pany  was  aroused  by  a  loud  explosion,  and, 
rushing  out  to  ascertain  its  cause,  found  the 
street  covered  with  pots,  kettles,  messpans 
and  other  cooking  utensils,  splintered  boards, 
articles  of  food,  etc.,  while  beneath  and  among 
it  all  lay  the  cook,  half  dead  with  fright  and  a 
few  injuries.  The  cook-house  had  completely 
disappeared. 

When  Captain  Jardine,  in  whose  company  the 
affair  occurred,  heard  the  explosion,  he  was  mys 
tified  for  only  a  moment.  Then  he  remembered 
the  two  soldiers  and  the  stump,  and  light 


204   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

dawned  upon  him.  It  seemed  plain  to  him  that 
the  explosion  was  caused  by  a  loaded  stick  in 
the  cook's  fire,  and  he  at  once  ordered  the  dyna 
miters  to  report  at  the  guardhouse  under  arrest. 
He  made  no  inquiries  and  required  no  further 
evidence  to  convince  him  that  the  whole  affair 
was  an  attempt  to  "  get  square  "  with  the  cook. 
The  men  were  kept  some  days  in  confinement, 
but  they  both  persistently  asserted  their  inno 
cence,  and  as  the  cook  proved  to  be  more  fright 
ened  than  hurt,  nothing  more  was  done  about  it 
and  they  were  liberated.  Teller  and  Weaver 
still  maintain  their  innocence  of  any  intention 
to  injure  the  cook.  They  relate  that  a  hole  was 
bored  in  the  stump,  which  was  then  loaded  with 
two  cartridges.  The  fuse  burned  low  and  was 
extinguished  and  could  not  be  relighted.  Other 
means  of  splitting  were  tried  and  failed.  Before 
they  could  accomplish  their  object  the  bugle 
called  them  away.  Upon  returning  and  finding 
the  stump  missing,  they  decided  to  keep  quiet 
and  await  the  explosion  which  would  at  once 
discover  the  thief  and  punish  him. 

Probably  the  most  interesting  and  practical 
use  to  which  the  powder  was  applied  was  in 
sham  battles  between  Company  K's  battery  and 
the  rest  of  the  regiment.  Several  times  these 
occurred,  and  were  not  only  realistic,  but  both 
sides  were  familiarized  with  conditions  which 


COMPANY  OS  EXPEDITION.  2O5 

arise  in  most  engagements.  The  charging  in 
fantry  were  made  familiar  with  the  flash  and 
concussion  of  artillery  fire,  while  the  battery- 
men  also  became  familiar  with  the  appearance 
of  charging  infantry. 

In  the  early  part  of  May  information  was  re 
ceived  at  headquarters  that  the  rebels  had  a 
large  amount  of  stores,  consisting  of  bacon,  corn, 
salt,  flour,  etc.,  collected  at  a  point  near  Gates- 
ville,  and  it  was  determined  to  destroy  the  same 
if  possible.  Company  C  (Captain  Parrison) 
was  detailed  to  perform  the  task,  and  on  May 
yth  they  embarked  on  the  gunboat  "  Shaw- 
sheen,"  Captain  Underwood  commanding,  and 
proceeded  through  Aibemarle  Sound  and  up 
the  Chowan  River  to  the  mouth  of  Catherine's 
Creek,  which  empties  into  the  river  near  Holli- 
day's  Island.  They  proceeded  cautiously  up 
the  creek  about  two  miles,  being  careful  to  con 
ceal  their  lights,  and  about  one  o'clock  in  the 
morning  landed  in  a  densely  wooded  swamp, 
through  which  they  advanced  silently,  and  suc 
ceeded  in  effecting  a  complete  surprise  the 
enemy  scattering  after  making  only  slight 
resistance. 

The  torch  was  applied  and  property  of  much 
value  destroyed.  While  returning  to  the  gun 
boat  the  rear  guard,  commanded  by  Lieutenant 
Cooper,  was  attacked  by  about  twenty-five  of 


206   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

the  enemy's  cavalry.  Parisen,  returning  to  aid 
Cooper,  repulsed  the  rebels,  one  of  their  num 
ber  being  shot  through  the  heart.  The  Zouaves 
arrived  at  Roanoke  without  further  trouble. 

About  this  time  a  proposition  was  made  by 
the  sergeants  of  Company  B  to  present  some 
kind  of  a  testimonial  to  Colonel  Hawkins.  By 
virtue  of  seniority  in  rank  he  was  nearly 
always  in  command  of  brigade  or  post,  and 
sometimes  of  both,  but  still,  his  first  care  was 
always  for  the  welfare  of  his  own  regiment. 
He  was  watchful  in  protecting  it  from  being 
overlooked  or  neglected  by  commissary  or 
quartermasters  department,  energetic  and 
tireless  in  having  it  well  clothed,  and,  in 
camp,  well  fed.  The  men  were  all  aware  of 
these  attentions  and  desired  in  some  man 
ner  to  express  their  appreciation  of  them. 
The  subject  had  been  somewhat  agitated 
throughout  the  regiment,  but  did  not  assume 
definite  shape  until  B's  sergeants  visited  the 
first  sergeants  of  the  other  companies,  and  asked 
each  one  to  call  a  meeting  of  his  company, 
inform  the  men  of  the  object  and  have  them 
appoint  a  committee  to  take  action  on  the 
matter.  The  plan  met  with  general  approval, 
contributions  were  limited  to  a  moderate 
amount,  and  the  enterprise  reached  a  success 
ful  conclusion.  It  was  understood  that  the 


THE  SWORD  PRESENTA  TION.  2O7 

participants  should  be  only  enlisted  men. 
Commissioned  officers  were  not  only  excluded 
but  were  to  remain  in  ignorance  of  the  movement 
until  the  presentation  was  ready  to  take  place, 
and  as  there  is  little  difficulty  in  withholding 
secrets  from  regimental  officers  the  latter  part 
of  the  agreement  was  successfully  carried  out. 

The  requisite  money  was  quickly  contributed 
and  forwarded  to  Judge  Whiting,  of  New  York, 
with  a  request  that  he  would  purchase  a  hand 
some  dress  sword,  have  a  suitable  inscription 
engraved  upon  the  scabbard,  and  express  it  to 
the  camp  at  his  earliest  convenience.  Assistant- 
Surgeon  White,  who  had  been  enjoying  a  brief 
leave  of  absence  in  New  York,  was  about  to 
return  to  his  regiment,  when  the  Judge  had  the 
good  fortune  to  meet  him  and  turned  the  sword 
over  to  his  custody. 

Dr.  White  arrived  at  Roanoke  on  the  Qth  of 
May,  and  delivered  the  box  containing  the 
sword  to  the  committee  who  had  the  affair  in 
charge. 

The  officers  were  informed,  Colonel  Hawkins 
communicated  with  and  requested  to  favor  the 
regiment  with  his  presence  at  Camp  Reno  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  succeeding  Saturday. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball  permitted  the  regi 
ment  to  parade  under  command  of  Sergeant- 
Major  Dusenbury,  with  the  companies  com- 


2O8    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

manded  by  their  respective  first  sergeants. 
When  the  day  arrived  the  regiment  was  duly 
paraded,  then  formed  in  hollow  square,  and  the 
sword  was  presented  by  Private  Reed,  of  Com 
pany  B,  in  an  neat  and  appropriate  address,  the 
Colonel  accepting  in  a  few  feeling  remarks 
which  showed  how  deeply  he  was  touched  by 
this  token  of  his  men's  gratitude.  The  cere 
mony  then  ended,  and  the  parade  dismissed. 

A  notable  feature  of  the  presentation  exer 
cises  and  one  which  caused  much  comment  and 
excited  general  surprise,  not  only  among  the 
regimental  officers,  but  also  among  the  many 
visitors  present,  was  the  appearance  of  the  regi 
ment  and  the  excellent  manner  in  which  it  was 
handled  by  the  "  non-coms." 

The  masterful  way  in  which  Dusenbury  ma- 
noeuvered  the  command,  executing  some  intri 
cate  battalion  movements  before  "forming 
square,"  and  the  prompt  and  ready  manner  in 
which  the  first  sergeants  handled  their  com 
panies,  was,  to  state  it  mildly,  a  revelation  to 
the  officers,  who  gazed  at  one  another  in  undis 
guised  astonishment,  and  the  unwritten  law  of 
the  Zouaves,  that  "  no  man  could  be  a  corporal 
unless  he  was  fit  to  be  a  colonel,"  in  this  in 
stance  appeared  not  to  have  been  mis-applied. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  a  member  of  a 
regiment,  either  enlisted  man  or  officer,  seldom 


A  REVELATION  TO  THE  OFFICERS.  2O9 

has  an  opportunity  to  see  his  own  regiment  on 
drill  or  parade.  Only  when  on  guard  duty,  or 
some  detailed  or  detached  service,  would  such 
an  opportunity  present  itself. 

In  the  present  instance  there  was  something 
in  addition  to  a  feeling  of  gratification  in  the 
breasts  of  captains  and  lieutenants  in  observing 
their  own  regiment.  There  was  a  sense  of 
amazement  that  these  non-coms,  who  had  been 
drilled  and  disciplined,  watched  over,  and,  so 
to  speak,  held  in  a  leash,  and  who  were  still 
considered  pupils,  could  drill  the  regiment  in 
such  a  correct  and  ready  manner,  and  as  one 
captain  expressed  himself  to  another,  "just  as 
well  as  we  can."  The  men  noticed  the  looks 
of  surprise  among  the  officers,  and  knowing 
the  cause  wTere  correspondingly  elated. 

Regiments  in  active  service  in  the  field,  are 
constantly  losing  men  in  addition  to  those 
lost  by  the  casualties  of  battle.  Some  persons 
are  more  susceptible  to  disease  than  others. 
More  or  less  sickness  always  occurs  in  camp. 
The  recovery  of  some  of  the  sick  men  is  slow 
and  tedious,  while  others  become  completely 
broken  down  in  health  and  continue  for  a  long 
time  unfit  for  active  duty.  With  either  class  it  is 
far  better  for  themselves  and  for  the  cause  in 
which  they  are  enlisted,  that  they  be  discharged 
and  their  places  filled  by  others  more  able  to 


21O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

withstand  the  hardships  of  a  soldier's  life,  and 
all  conscientious  and  patriotic  surgeons  recom 
mend  this  mode  of  procedure.  Recruits  are 
constantly  being  sent  to  the  front  to  refill  these 
vacancies ;  regiments  with  the  best  reputations 
for  soldierly  or  fighting  qualities  being  thus 
continually  augmented  through  their  entire 
term  of  service.  When  the  recruit  arrives  in 
camp  he  is  received  in  a  friendly  spirit,  and 
should  he  bring  with  him  a  goodly  share  of 
bounty  money,  and  is  fond  of  the  good  old 
old  game  of  "  draw,"  he  is  treated  with  tender 
consideration  until  his  money  has  been  trans 
ferred  to  the  pockets  of  the  older  and  more 
experienced  campaigners,  and  all  are  glad  that 
he  joined  the  regiment.  His  verdancy  speedily 
disappears  with  the  tuition  he  experiences  and 
he  becomes  a  good  soldier.  At  first  he  may  be 
a  little  troublesome  and  inclined  to  be  insubor 
dinate,  for  in  some  instances  he  imagines  he 
left  all  constituted  authorities  behind  when  he 
put  on  his  uniform  and  started  to  join  the  regi 
ment,  but  alas,  how  quickly  that  impression  is 
removed,  though  in  his  mind  he  may  for  a  time 
resent  the  quiet,  unquestioning  way  in  which 
older  soldiers  obey  all  commands.  If  a  bully, 
he  endeavors,  and  quite  often  succeeds,  in  work 
ing  up  the  other  recruits  to  revolt  against, 
"  these  fellows  with  stripes  on  their  arms  who 


A  DISTURBING  ELEMENT.  21  1 

go  around  bossing  everybody,'1  and  thus 
foments  to  unnecessary  disturbance,  but  extra 
fatigue  or  guard,  with  a  tour  of  duty  on  a 
wooden  horse  or  with  a  weighted  knapsack  or 
the  novel  position  assumed  by  being  bucked  and 
gagged  never  fails  to  eliminate  that  feeling.  In 
the  "  Ninth  "  the  non-coms,  under  supervision 
of  the  first  sergeants  attended  to  all  details  of 
military  life  in  their  respective  companies,  the 
commissioned  officers  having  advanced  beyond 
that  condition.  Should  a  first  sergeant  prove 
incompetent  to  take  care  of  his  men,  clothe, 
feed,  drill  and  control  them,  it  was  not  difficult 
to  depose  him  and  fill  his  place  with  one  who 
possessed  all  these  requisites.  One  of  the  duties 
of  the  first  sergeant  was  to  take  charge  of 
recruits  assigned  to  his  company  and  make 
soldiers  of  them. 

This  was  generally  accomplished  without 
much  friction,  but  in  case  of  a  bully  appearing 
among  them,  each  sergeant  employed  methods 
of  his  own  toward  him  which  he  deemed 
especially  applicable  to  the  situation.  On  one 
occasion  during  the  early  days  at  Roanoke,  a 
squad  of  recruits  assigned  to  Company  D, 
contained  a  member  who  seemed  determined 
to  create  trouble.  He  did  not  propose  to  sur 
render  his  cognomen  of  "  bad  man,"  without  a 
struggle.  His  natural  assurance  enabled  him 


212   NINTH  REGIMEN  J,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

to  continue  an  influence  already  established 
over  his  comrades,  and  organize  an  attempt  to 
destroy  the  discipline  of  the  company.  The 
design  was  to  cover  the  first-sergeant  with 
shame  and  mortification,  by  openly  disregard 
ing  the  proprieties  which  governed  military 
custom,  and  which  the  sergeant  felt  in  duty 
bound  to  enforce. 

The  first  morning  after  the  squad  arrived  in 
camp,  "sick-call"  sounded  and  the  first-sergeant 
presented  himself  at  the  place  where  the  ailing 
men  were  accustomed  to  assemble  and  be 
marched  to  the  surgeon's  quarters,  when  he 
found  in  addition  to  those  actually  ill,  every  one 
of  the  recruits  lined  up,  the  embryo  mutineer 
at  their  head,  ready  for  business.  At  that  time 
the  first-sergeant  of  D,  was  one  James  B. 
Horner,  a  good  soldier,  a  strict  disciplinarian, 
but  not  blessed  with  an  angelic  temper.  A 
characteristic  of  his,  well  known  throughout  the 
regiment,  was  a  decided  lack  of  patience.  He 
grasped  the  situation  and  the  meaning  of  it  all 
at  a  glance,  saw  but  one  way  out  of  the  dilem 
ma,  which  appeared  to  him  the  right  way.  He 
believed  there  was  but  one  time  to  solve  a 
problem  and  that  was  the  present.  The 
moment  he  noticed  the  crowd  of  recruits  ready 
to  answer  "sick-call,"  he  prepared  for  action. 
To  say  that  he  was  angry,  feebly  expressed  it. 


CURING  A  NE  W  DISEASE.  2 1 3 

Giving  one  glance  along  the  line,  he  stepped 
up  to  the  ring-leader  on  the  right,  and  calmly 
asked:  " What's  the  matter  with  you?  Why 
do  you  wish  to  see  the  surgeon?"  The  man 
replied  with  a  leer;  "I've  got  the  lapsy  palls," 
with  further  remarks  which  are  unprintable, 
but  which  were  grossly  offensive  and  insulting. 
The  sergeant  quietly  leaning  his  musket 
against  the  nearest  tent-pole,  said :  "  You 
needn't  go  to  the  doctor  for  that,  I  can  attend 
to  your  case  myself,"  and  before  the  recruit  had 
time  to  think  or  move,  Horner  "  lit  on  him," 
and  so  sudden  and  unlocked  for  was  the  attack, 
and  so  vigorously  and  industriously  maintained 
that  the  recruit  was  taken  completely  by  sur 
prise  and  in  a  moment  was  in  such  a  condition 
that  his  dearest  friends  would  have  found  it 
difficult  to  recognize  him,  and  before  he  could 
fully  realize  what  had  occured,  he  was  on  the 
way  to  the  guard-house.  Horner  now  fixed 
his  not  very  gentle  gaze  on  the  next  man,  and 
with  finger  pointed  at  him  like  a  poised  javelin, 
asked  savagely :  "  What's  the  matter  with  you  ?  " 
The  man  backed  away  with  hands  partly  raised 
as  though  to  protect  his  face,  and  stammered 
out  something  about  not  meaning  any  harm, 
that  the  other  fellow  asked  them  to  "  fall  in  "  as 
a  joke  on  the  sergeant,  and  more  to  the  same 
effect,  when  he  was  cut  short  by  Horner  saying: 


214    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

"Get  to  your  quarters  or  I'll  murder  you,"  and 
when  he  looked  round  for  the  other  pretended 
sick  men  of  the  squad  they  had  disappeared. 
That  "lapsy  pall"  disease  was  not  again  on  the 
list  of  maladies,  and  there  was  no  more  trouble 
with  that  batch  of  recruits;  they  moved  along 
quietly,  did  their  duty  and  obeyed  orders,  the 
matter  never  after  being  referred  to. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  from  the  above  that 
physical  force  was  generally  employed  in  ex 
acting  military  obedience  in  the  Qth  New  York. 
It  was  in  strict  opposition  to  the  Rules  of  Ser 
vice  and  also  contrary  to  regimental  orders  for 
a  non-commissioned  officer  to  strike  a  soldier 
of  whatever  rank,  particularly  a  private.  Seldom 
or  never  was  this  resorted  to  except  when  a 
non-com,  had  become  irritated  and  aggravated 
beyond  endurance  by  acts,  which,  though  not 
strictly  overt,  were  nevertheless  of  such  a  char 
acter  as  to  injure  discipline  and  tend  to  destroy 
authority,  and  which  gave  the  officer  an  oppor 
tunity  (If  he  possessed  sufficient  courage  and 
the  physical  qualities)  to  successfully  redress 
his  own  grievances. 

After  the  evacuation  of  Norfolk  by  the  enemy, 
Colonel  Hawkins  had  urged  upon  the  depart 
ment  the  importance  of  opening  the  Dismal 
Swamp  canal  to  Norfolk,  by  which  route  a 
twenty-four  hour  communication  between  Fort- 


REOPENING  THE  CANAL.  215 

ress  Monroe  and  Newberne  would  be  secured 
and  the  dangers  of  the  outside  route  around 
Hatteras  avoided.  The  authorities  decided  to 
act  on  his  suggestions  and  in  the  latter  part 
of  May  Professor  Malifert,  who  had  been 
the  first  person  to  successfully  conduct  sub 
marine  blasting  operations,  arrived  for  the 
purpose  of  superintending  the  work  of  remov 
ing  the  obstructions  from  North  river  and  the 
canal. 

The  steamer  "  Port  Royal,"  with  a  detail  and 
two  guns  from  Company  K,  under  Captain 
Whiting  and  Lieutenant  Morris,  was  assigned 
to  protect  the  working  party.  This  was  made 
up  of  one  hundred  contrabands  from  the  island 
in  charge  of  Sergeant  Thompson  of  Company  I. 
Very  little  opposition  was  encountered  by  them 
and  the  undertaking  was  successfully  accom 
plished,  all  obstructions  being  removed,  the 
abandoned  rebel  fortifications  destroyed,  and  an 
unobstructed  and  direct  waterway  secured 
between  General  Burnside's  forces  and  the  north. 

On  the  morning  of  May  20,  the  "Port  Royal" 
completed  the  first  trip  through  the  canal  and 
arrived  at  Fortress  Monroe,  carrying  dispatches 
direct  from  General  Burnside  to  General  Wool, 
and  the  work  was  accomplished. 

Captain  Whiting,  with  the  detail  from  Com 
pany  K,  continued  to  keep  the  communication 


216  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

open  during  the  month  of  June,  after  which  they 
were  relieved  and  returned  to  the  regiment. 

The  men  of  the  regiment  who  were  so  fortu 
nate  as  to  take  part  in  the  expedition  to  open 
the  canal  enjoyed  a  new  and  interesting  exper 
ience  in  thus  penetrating  the  heart  of  the  mys 
terious  "  Dismal."  Vivid  object  lessons  in 
relatio*n  to  certain  phases  of  the  "  peculiar  insti 
tution  "  were  brought  forcibly  to  their  notice  by 
the  occasional  appearance  of  fugitive  slaves 
among  the  working  party.  These  men,  five  of 
whom  appeared  while  the  detail  were  in  the 
canal,  had  been  living  in  the  swamp  for  years  ; 
they  presented  themselves  fearlessly  and  asked 
to  be  permitted  to  join  the  party.  There  was 
no  hesitation  nor  distrust.  They  had  evidently 
received  full  information  regarding  the  situation 
by  that  unexplained  and  mysterious  system  used 
for  spreading  information,  known  only  to  them 
selves  and  which  no  white  man  has  yet  been 
able  to  discover.  It  was  all  like  a  page  from 
"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

They  were  received  without  question  and 
became  part  of  the  working  force,  and  afterward 
returned  with  the  party  to  Roanoke  Island. 

One  of  the  fugitives  informed  Sergeant 
Thompson  that  he  had  escaped  from  his  master 
in  the  year  1855,  had  succeeded  in  baffling  the 
bloodhounds,  and  had  lived  in  the  swamp  ever 
since  —  seven  years. 


COMPANY  F  AT  PL  YMO UTH.  2  1  7 

Early  in  •  the  month  of  June  the  town  of 
Plymouth  on  the  Roanoke  river  was  captured 
by  the  fleet  and  held  by  the  naval  forces  until 
the  1 5th,  when  after  inspecting  the  place,  it 
was  decided  to  hold  it  permanently,  if  pos 
sible,  and  Company  F  was  detached  from 
the  regiment  for  this  purpose,  remaining  as 
garrison  of  the  town  until  the  following  Decem 
ber. 

Plymouth  at  that  time  was  a  city  of  much 
importance,  being  a  port  of  entry  with  a  large 
trade  in  lumber,  shingles,  naval  stores,  etc.,  but 
wrhen  first  occupied  by  Company  F,  had  been 
almost  deserted  by  its  inhabitants.  A  dwelling- 
house  of  sufficient  capacity  to  accommodate  the 
rank  and  file  was  levied  on  for  quarters  for  the 
company  while  the  officers  were  provided  with  a 
smaller  one  near  at  hand.  Permission  having 
been  granted  to  Colonel  Hawkins  to  enlist  loyal 
North  Carolinians  for  service  with  the  Union 
troops,  and  organize  them  into  companies  or 
regiments  as  he  deemed  best,  equipments  suffi 
cient  for  a  regiment  each  of  infantry  and  cavalry 
were  issued  to  him  for  that  purpose. 

The  custom  house  was  again  taken  possession 
of  by  the  Government,  and  was  utilized  as  a 
depot  for  military  and  naval  supplies.  In  a 
short  time  the  town  became  a  busy  little  military 
post,  garrisoned  by  one  company  whose  captain 


218    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

(Hammill)  commanded  the  post,  Lieut.  H.  C. 
Perley  the  troops,  while  Lieut.  M.  J.  Graham 
composed  the  entire  staff  of  quartermaster,  com 
missary  and  ordinance  officer. 

The  surrounding  country  being  held  by  the 
enemy  the  greatest  vigilance  was  at  all  times 
observed.  A  heavy  picket  guard  was  continu 
ously  on  duty,  causing  the  details  therefor  to 
follow  in  turn  with  such  frequency  that  it  was 
far  from  agreeable. 

This  duty,  however,  was  considerably  light 
ened  as  soon  as  the  "  Yokels  "(as  the  boys  dubbed 
the  new  North  Carolina  recruits)  had  received 
sufficient  instruction  and  drill  to  warrant  detail 
ing  them  for  such  service.  The  Union  fleet,  con 
sisting  of  improvised  small  gunboats,  had  its 
permanent  rendezvous  in  the  river  fronting  the 
town  and  was  commanded  by  Lieut-Com 
mander  Charles  E.  Flusser,  an  exceptionally 
energetic  and  efficient  officer.  Frequent  expe 
ditions  were  sent  into  the  adjacent  country, 
with  the  special  object  of  capturing  detachments 
of  the  enemy  or  destroying  collections  of  mili 
tary  supplies ;  at  other  times  on  a  simple 
reconnaissance  to  locate  the  enemy  and  gain 
from  the  loyal  inhabitants,  whose  fathers  and 
brothers  were  serving  with  the  Union  army,  any 
information  they  had  been  able  to  gather  concern 
ing  the  operations  of  the  enemy,  and  which  occa- 


"  PUT  OUT  YOUR  FENDERS  MR.  L  YNCH."         2 1 9 

sionally  proved  of  much  value.  These  expedi 
tions  were  generally  ordered  by  Flusser,  who 
was  ranking  officer  at  the  post,  and  the  available 
number  of  soldiers  being  limited,  were  fre 
quently  largely  composed  of  sailors  from  the 
fleet.  Flusser  was  continuously  on  the  alert, 
constantly  striving  to  advance  the  interest  of 
the  cause  in  which  he  was  enlisted.  He 
was  known  in  the  navy  to  be  of  unflinching 
courage,  clear  and  correct  in  judgment,  and  was 
looked  upon  by  both  soldiers  and  sailors  as  the 
coming  Nelson  of  the  war.  His  men  never 
tired  of  repeating  the  account  of  their  fight  up 
the  Chowan  river,  when  they  rammed,  and 
boarded  the  gunboat  which  was  flying  the  flag 
of  the  rebel  Commodore  Lynch,  who  had  been 
Flusser's  commander  before  the  war,  when 
upon  closing  in  on  the  Commodore,  Flusser, 
who  was  forward  at  the  head  of  his  boarders, 
removed  his  cap  and  shaking  it  toward  the 
enemy,  shouted  :  "  Put  out  your  fenders,  Mr. 
Lynch,  I'm  coming  alongside,"  then  rammed 
and  boarded,  and  in  five  minutes  had  captured 
the  enemy ;  but  not  his  old  commander,  how 
ever,  who  had  escaped. 

Occasionally  Company  F  would  come  in  con 
tact  with  the  enemy  while  on  these  scouts,  but 
their  casualties  were  few.  In  two  instances 
they  went  up  the  river  on  the  gunboats  in 


22O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

attempts  to  capture  or  destroy  the  nearly  com 
pleted  rebel  ram  "  Albemarle,"  but  on  both  occa 
sions  unforeseen  circumstances  prevented  suc 
cess  in  the  design.  On  the  whole,  garrison  life  at 
Plymouth  was  more  congenial  and  pleasant  to 
the  men  of  Company  F  than  any  previous  experi 
ence.  The  town  was  of  considerable  size  and 
although  at  first  practically  deserted,  shortly 
afterwards  contained  quite  a  colony,  the  inhabit 
ants  returning  and  refugees,  both  white  and 
black,  coming  in  from  the  neighboring  country. 

The  sailors  passed  their  days  of  "shore  leave" 
in  town,  and  fraternized  with  the  soldiers,  while 
both  having  considerable  money,  created  quite 
a  lively  trade  in  the  place  which  was  increased 
as  the  citizens  returned.  The  public  market 
reopened,  some  of  the  merchants  resumed  busi 
ness,  and  the  general  outlook  for  prosperity  was 
gratifying  to  the  inhabitants.  The  treatment 
of  the  black  refugees  by  the  post-commander 
created  much  feeling  among  the  men  of  the 
company,  and  only  the  restraints  of  discipline 
and  the  personal  popularity  of  Captain  Hammill 
prevented  serious  consequences  to  him. 

Several  unpleasant  incidents  occurred  in  con 
nection  with  runaway  slaves  of  which  we  recount 
the  following :  Two  negro  men  escaped  from  their 
master  and  sought  protection  within  the  lines. 
The  owner  followed  them  to  Plymouth,  reques- 


SURRENDER  OF  FUGITIVE  SLA  VES.  22  1 

ted  and  was  granted  permission  from  Hammill 
to  recover  and  take  away  his  property.  On 
finding  them  he  tied  their  wrists  together  with 
one  end  of  a  rope,  leading  them  through  the 
streets  by  the  other  end,  as  a  farmer  might  lead 
cattle  to  market.  On  the  way  to  the  dock 
where  his  boat  lay,  he  was  compelled  to  pass 
the  guard-house  of  the  regiment,  and  the  sight 
of  the  shackled  colored  men  was  an  unpleasant 
one  for  the  eyes  of  northern  soldiers.  Clark 
Wright,  who  was  corporal  of  the  guard  that 
day,  was  unable  to  control  his  indignation  at 
the  spectacle,  and  taking  out  his  pocket-knife 
quickly  cut  the  rope  and  told  the  negroes  to 
run.  They,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  did 
so,  conforming  to  the  scriptural  injunction, 
and  quickly  disappeared.  Shameful  to  relate, 
they  were  recaptured  by  Hammill's  authority 
and  assistance,  and  restored  to  the  owner. 
Corporal  Wright  was  reduced  to  the  ranks  for 
his  part  in  aiding  the  escape. 

In  the  fall  of  1862  a  large  force  was  organ 
ized  at  Newberne  under  General  Foster,  with 
the  intention  of  capturing  Tarboro,  Little 
Washington,  and  other  important  strategic 
points  in  that  portion  of  North  Carolina. 
Company  F  joined  the  column  upon  its  arrival 
at  Plymouth,  and,  because  of  its  familiarity 
with  the  country,  was  placed  in  the  advance  as 


222   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

skirmishers,  and  held  that  position  without 
once  being  relieved  during  the  entire  march 
to  Tarboro,  returning  to  Plymouth  after  the 
completion  of  the  movement  This  occupation 
of  the  country  by  Foster  afforded  an  oppor 
tunity  for  the  company  to  rejoin  the  regiment, 
and  in  November,  it  was  relieved  by  Wessel's 
brigade  of  Foster's  command,  and  after  a 
tedious  roundabout  journey  via  Newberne, 
Baltimore  and  Washington,  and  after  a  six 
months'  separation  rejoined  the  regiment  in 
front  of  Fredericksburg,  where  it  again  took  its 
place  in  line.  No  fatted  calf  was  killed  on  the 
return  of  the  company,  but  the  best  the  regiment 
had  (hard  tack  and  coffee)  was  passed  around 
amid  general  rejoicing. 

One  week  after  Company  F  left  Plymouth 
the  place  was  attacked  simultaneously  by  land 
and  water.  Wessels  was  defeated,  and  the 
town  re-captured.  The  steamer  "Albemarle" 
attacked  the  Union  fleet,  and  Flusser  was 
killed  by  the  rebound  of  one  of  his  own  shells. 
The  "Southfield"  was  sunk,  the  remainder  of  the 
fleet  was  temporarily  scattered,  and  Plymouth 
and  its  surroundings  were  once  more  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  while  general  demoraliza 
tion  was  felt  everywhere. 

About  this  time  great  anxiety  was  felt  and 
great  activity  prevailed  in  higher  military  circles, 


PREPARING  FOR  A  MOVE.  223 

owing  to  the  precarious  position  then  occupied 
by  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

On  the  8th  of  June,  1862,  General  Burnside 
passed  through  the  Dismal  Swamp  canal  on 
his  way  to  Fortress  Monroe  for  the  purpose  of 
consultation  with  General  Dix.  He  arrived 
the  following  day,  and  at  Secretary  of  War 
Stanton's  suggestion  visited  General  McClel- 
lan's  headquarters,  where  he  remained  some 
six  hours,  then  returned  to  his  own  department. 

June  24th,  in  reply  to  a  dispatch  from 
McClellan,  Burnside'  answered  that  in  five  days 
he  could  land  a  force  of  7,000  infantry  in 
Norfolk,  ready  for  transportation  to  White 
House  landing,  but  without  wagons,  camp 
equipage,  artillery  or  cavalry,  or  in  the  same 
time  he  could  place  at  a  point  on  the  Chowan 
river  with  a  view  to  co-operation  in  an  attack  on 
Petersburg,  7,000  infantry,  12  pieces  of  artillery, 
3  companies  of  cavalry,  and  sufficient  wagons 
for  ammunition  and  5  days'  subsistence;  could 
move  on  Weldon  with  the  same  force,  or  on 
Goldsborough  at  60  hours'  notice  with  10,000 
infantry,  20  pieces  artillery,  and  5  companies  of 
cavalry. 

The  next  day  McClellan  telegraphed  Burn- 
side,  that  reports  had  been  received  stating 
that  Jackson's  forces  were  coming  to  Rich 
mond,  and  part  of  Beauregard's  had  already 


224   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

arrived,  and  for  Burnside  to  advance  on 
Goldsborough  with  all  his  available  force  at 
the  earliest  practicable  moment,  and  wished 
him  to  understand  that  every  minute  in  this 
crisis  was  of  the  greatest  importance.  He  was 
urged  to  reach  Goldsborough  as  soon  as 
possible,  destroying  all  the  railroad  communi 
cations  toward  Richmond  that  he  could,  and  if 
possible  destroy  bridges  on  the  Raleigh  and 
Gaston  R.  R.,  and  threaten  Raleigh.  President 
Lincoln  had  previously  telegraphed  Burnside: 
"  I  think  you  had  better  go  with  any  reinforce 
ments  you  can  spare  to  General  McClellan." 

At  3  o'clock  A.M.,  July  ist,  the  Ninth  moved 
to  Pork  Point  in  heavy  marching  order,  boarded 
schooners  which  were  towed  by  the  "  Ocean 
Wave  ?'  down  Pamlico  Sound  to  the  mouth  of 
Neuse  river,  where  they  were  met  by  a  steamer 
bringing  orders  for  them  to  return  to  Roanoke, 
"  the  object  of  the  expedition  having  been  ac 
complished."  The  Ninth  reached  Roanoke  the 
following  evening. 

On  July  3d  Burnside  at  Newberne  tele 
graphed  McClellan  that  he  had  embarked  7,000 
infantry  and  was  on  the  way  to  join  him,  when 
he  met  a  messenger  informing  him  of  McClel- 
lan's  important  successes  before  Richmond, 
which,  if  true,  would  render  it  unnecessary  for 
him  to  join  McClellan. 


REINFORCEMENTS  FOR  McCLELLAN.  225 

He  brought  his  fleet  to  anchor  and  sent  a 
steamer  through  to  Norfolk  to  ascertain  the  ex 
act  state  of  affairs,  while  he  held  himself  in 
readiness  to  move  in  any  direction.  The  same 
day  Burnside  telegraphed  Stanton  that  in 
accordance  with  the  latter's  suggestion,  he 
had  embarked  7,000  men  and  was  proceeding  to 
the  point  designated  by  Stanton  when  he  met  a 
dispatch  from  Colonel  Hawkins,  commanding 
at  Roanoke,  stating  there  was  information  from 
Fortress  Monroe  of  some  very  important  suc 
cesses  to  our  arms  in  front  of  Richmond,  w;hich 
if  true,  rendered  his  proceeding  further  unnec 
essary.  He  had  come  to  anchor  and  sent  a 
messenger  to  Norfolk  to  ascertain  the  exact 
facts. 

On  July  2d,  6  P.M.,  Hawkins  sent  the  follow 
ing  message  from  Roanoke  Island  to  General 
Dix: 

"  General  Dix  I  wish  you  would  telegraph  immediately  to  President 
Lincoln  if  he  has  any  orders  other  than  the  last  sent  some  three  days 
ago  for  General  Burnside. 

"We  are  almost  ready  to  move  in  obedience  to  that  order.  If 
Richmond  be  taken  the  President  may  wish  to  change  his  instructions. 
Please  give  me  General  McClellan's  position  when  last  heard  from . 
Please  return  dispatch-boat  immediately,  as  the  news  which  it  brings 
will,  I  think,  govern  the  operations  in  this  department." 

On  July  3d,  3  P.M.,  General  Dix  forwarded 
this  dispatch  to  Secretary  Stanton  with  these 
comments  : 

"  I  have  just  received  the  following  dispatch  from  Colonel  Hawkins: " 
"  I  do  not  quite  understand  why  General  Burnside  should  not  have 


226   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

sent  it  in  his  own  "name,  if  it  comes  from  or  is  authorized  by  him.  The 
officer  who  brought  it  says  Colonel  Hawkins  sent  it  with  the  assurance 
that  General  Burnside  would  approve  it." 

The  same  date  Stanton  sent  Hawkins  through 
Dix: 

"Richmond  not  taken.  General  McClellan  has  been  compelled  to 
fall  back  to  Harrison's  Bar  on  James." 

"  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  President,  and  he  so  directs,  that  General 
Burnside  in  person,  with  all  the  infantry  force  he  can  spare,  move  by 
way  of  Hampton  Roads  and  the  James,  to  General  McClellan's  head 
quarters  to  reinforce  him  immediately." 

On  the  same  date  General  Dix  telegraphed  : 

"The  President:  —  Soon  after  sending  you  Colonel  Hawkins'  dis 
patch  I  received  from  General  McClellan  an  order  to  General  Burnside 
to  bring  on  all  the  troops  he  could  spare.  I  sent  it  off  immediately 
with  a. letter  from  myself,  describing  to  General  Burnside  the  position 
of  General  McClellan's  army.  The  steamer  having  gone  I  cannot  send 
your  dispatch  to  Colonel  Hawkins  until  morning.  I  will  do  so  then  if 
you  desire  it." 

July  5th,  Burnside  sent  word  to  Stanton  that 
his  dispatch-boat  sent  for  information  to  Nor 
folk  had  not  yet  returned,  and  adds : 

"  In  the  meantime  we  hear  most  startling  rumors  of  disasters  to 
General  McClellan's  army,  which  are  in  sad  contrast  to  the  dispatch 
from  Colonel  Hawkins  on  Roanoke  Island  on  the  night  of  the  2d  inst., 
and  announced  himself  ready  to  move  in  any  direction." 

Stanton  replied  at  once : 

"  The  department  has  no  further  orders  to  give  but  hopes  you  will 
with  all  speed  reach  General  McClellan  with  as  large  a  force  as 
possible." 

At  4:40  P.M.,  Burnside  reported  he  had 
reached  Fortress  Monroe  with  nearly  8,000 
good  men,  and  would  leave  as  soon  as  the 
bulk  of  the  command  arrived,  and  was  told  to 
remain  until  the  President,  then  on  the  way, 


"WHERE  IGNORANCE  IS  BLISS."  227 

reached  the  fort.     General    Foster  was  left   in 
charge   of  the  Department  of  North  Carolina. 

The  regiment  as  a  whole  was  in  blissful 
ignorance  of  the  exact  military  situation  here 
shown,  and,  of  course,  had  no  knowledge 
of  these  flying  telegrams  or  hurried  prepa 
rations,  and  it  is  not  remembered  now  that 
the  men  were  even  aware  that  the  greater 
portion  of  the  corps  was  already  in  Vir 
ginia.  Consequently  they  kept  on  in  the 
even  tenor  of  their  way. 

Fourth  of  July  was  celebrated  by  firing  salutes 
from  Forts  Foster  and  Parke,  and  reading  the 
Declaration  of  Independence ;  after  which  the 
day  was  devoted  to  all  kinds  of  sport  and 
amusement — one  specially  notable  feature  being 
a  fantastic  parade  in  the  afternoon,  when  Com 
pany  K  gave  a  fine  exhibition  of  light  artillery 
drill  with  their  wheelbarrow  battery,  which  was 
warmly  applauded  by  the  enthusiastic  spec 
tators. 

One  extremely  interesting  feature  of  the  stay 
at  Roanoke  was  the  "  Contraband  Camp." 
When  the  news  of  the  capture  of  the  island 
spread  among  the  slaves  on  the  adjacent  main 
land  they  commenced  getting  their  belongings 
together,  and  leaving  homes  and  masters  to 
flock  to  the  Union  camp,  searching  for  that  free 
dom  of  which  they  had  so  long  dreamed. 


228   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Nearly  every  night  one  or  more  boat-loads  of 
slaves  landed  on  the  beach  and  were  taken 
in  charge  by  the  guard.  This  was  an  ex 
tremely  dangerous  proceeding  for  escaping 
slaves,  and  would  have  been  considered  heroic 
bravery  had  they  been  white  men.  No  sooner 
had  the  danger  of  pursuit  and  capture  by  wrath 
ful  owners  abated,  and  the  peril  of  the  watery 
journey  been  overcome,  than  a  new  danger,  de 
manding  the  greatest  caution,  presented  itself. 
They  were  obliged  to  approach  a  strange  shore 
in  the  darkness  of  night,  where  the  sentinels 
were  keenly  alert  for  the  approach  of  an  enemy, 
especially  by  water.  The  flapping  of  sails  or 
the  sound  of  oars  from  the  water  was  naturally 
accepted  by  the  picket  guard  to  denote  an  at 
tempted  night  attack  and  surprise,  and  their 
faculties  were  doubly  keen,  and  they  were  ready 
to  at  once  lire  in  the  direction  of  the  sound, 
should  their  challenge  not  be  promptly  and  sat 
isfactorily  responded  to.  To  the  soldier's  hoarse 
challenge  of  "  Who  goes  there?"  would  come 
an  answering  chorus  of  screams  from  the  women 
and  children,  with  shouts  from  the  men  of 
"  Don't  shoot,  massa  sojer  !  don't  shoot !  We's 
only  po'  niggahs  !  "  and  similar  assurances  of 
friendliness,  which  meant  much  more  of  uncer 
tainty  to  the  sentinel  than  the  refugees  knew. 
For  how  could  the  sentinel  know  that  this  was 


ARRIVAL  OF  FUGITIVE  SLA  VES.  229 

not  a  ruse  employed  by  the  enemy?  They 
were,  however,  seldom  or  never  fired  upon,  but 
permitted  to  land,  though  kept  under  guard 
until  daylight,  when  they  were  marched  to  head 
quarters  and  proper  disposition  made  of  them 
by  the  commanding  officer.  The  mingled  terror 
and  joy  exhibited  by  the  slaves  was  enough  to 
melt  the  heart  of  the  most  unsympathetic.  In 
their  efforts  to  gain  their  freedom  they  had 
risked  death  at  the  hands  of  the  very  men 
from  whom  they  sought  protection.  They  did 
not  know  whether  or  not  they  would  be  re 
turned  to  their  former  masters  or  be  retained  by 
new  and  unknown  owners — simply  exchanging 
one  bondage  for  another.  They  were  of  all 
shades  of  color  and  degrees  of  breed,  from  the 
full-blood,  short-wooled  African  to  almost  pure 
white.  They  came  in  such  numbers  to  this 
camp  that  it  was  soon  found  necessary  to  make 
special  provision  for  sheltering,  feeding  and 
controlling  them,  as  well  as  for  using  their  labor. 
On  February  2Oth,  1862,  an  order  was  issued, 
detailing  Serg't.  Walter  L.  Thompson,  of  Com 
pany  I,  "  to  organize  and  care  for  contrabands 
within  this  military  district."  Sergeant  Thomp 
son  at  once  assumed  control  of  all  the 
straggling  contrabands  on  the  island.  The 
nucleus  of  his  camp  was  the  twenty-seven  per 
sons  who  had  been  left  by  the  rebels  when  the 


23O  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

place  was  captured.  All  others,  scattered  about 
the  island,  were  gathered  together,  and  these, 
with  the  numbers  constantly  arriving  by  boats 
from  the  adjacent  mainland,  counting  men, 
women  and  children,  numbered  two  hundred 
and  fifty,  by  the  ist  of  April.  In  three  months 
the  black  refugees  reached  the  number  of  one 
thousand.  The  able-bodied  males  were  em 
ployed  in  every  kind  of  labor  made  necessary 
by  the  conditions  existing  in  the  military  depart 
ment.  They  did  the  greater  part  of  the  heavy 
work  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department,  un 
loading,  handling  and  housing  provisions,  for 
age,  ammunition  and  the  various  other  stores 
necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  the  army.  A 
large  number  were  put  at  work  on  a  new  fort 
which  was  being  erected  on  the  island,  to  mount 
nine  guns,  and  which  was  to  be  named  Fort 
Burnside. 

While  employed  the  men  were  paid  the  regular 
per  diem  wages  of  ordinary  hired  laborers.  To 
those  unable  to  work  at  such  employment  as  the 
government  had  to  offer,  rations  were  issued  and 
shelter  provided.  Thompson  proved  himself  a 
most  efficient  officer  and  was  very  successful  in 
his  administration  of  his  negro  colony.  He 
soon  secured  perfect  control  of  all  his  subjects, 
male  and  female.  The  female  portion  proved 
the  most  difficult  to  manage.  Fights  among  the 


ASSISTANCE  FOR  NE  WBERNE.  23 1 

women  were  a  common  occurrence  and  were,  in 
a  majority  of  cases,  caused  by  jealousy  over  the 
attentions  of  some  one  or  other  of  the  dusky 
dandies  of  the  camp. 

The  sergeant  was  known  in  the  regiment  and 
by  the  soldiers  generally,  as  "  Niggardier  Gen 
eral  Thompson."  He  was  a  busy  man  during 
the  stay  on  Roanoke. 

When  Newberne  was  besieged  by  the  enemy 
and  General  Foster  sent  an  urgent  appeal  for 
aid  to  assist  in  throwing  up  intrenchments  and 
breastworks  to  protect  the  city,  Sergeant 
Thompson  responded  so  promptly  that  in  six 
hours  after  the  receipt  of  the  order  to  furnish 
the  labor,  he  was  on  board  the  steamer  "  Ocean 
Wave  "  on  his  way  to  Newberne  with  three- 
hundred  able-bodied  men  with  their  families. 
He  left  them  there  working  like  beavers  on  the 
defenses — and  the  place  was  not  taken. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  " Niggardier" 
was  looked  upon  by  the  negroes  under  his 
command  as  a  big  man.  He,  to  them,  was  the 
visible  representation  and  embodiment  of  au 
thority.  He  fed  and  clothed  them,  praised  and 
punished. 

It  is  related  that  at  a  time  when  there  was  to 
be  a  general  inspection  of  the  camp  by  Colonel 
Hawkins,  who  was  in  command  of  the  post,  a 
number  of  the  negroes  happened  to  be  present 
when  he  arrived  to  perform  that  duty. 


232   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

The  full  dress  uniform  for  commissioned  offi 
cers  of  the  regiment  was  modeled  after  the 
French  fashion,  and,  like  the  French  officers,  the 
rank  was  designated  by  various  convolutions  of 
gold  lace  on  the  sleeve,  extending  from  the  wrist 
to  the  elbow.  Now  the  Colonel  being  a  remark 
ably  fine  looking  man,  even  without  any  extre 
ornamentation,  was  simply  gorgeous  in  his 
handsome  uniform,  with  gold  laced  red  cap  and 
six  bands  of  lace  on  his  sleeves  and  would 
have  attracted  attention  anywhere  and  from 
anybody. 

One  of  the  darkies,  a  newcomer,  upon  catching 
sight  of  the  Colonel,  seized  his  nearest  neighbor, 
a  veteran  of  the  camp,  by  the  arm  and  stam 
mered  in  an  awe-struck  voice :  "Who,  who  dat 
ar  man  wid  all  dat  gold  on  his  sleebe?"  The 
other,  who  knew  who  the  Colonel  was,  replied 
very  consequentially:  "  Dat  de  gin'ral  ob  all 
dese  yer  Zourabs.  Dat  de  highest  up  man  on 
de  Island."  That  statement  appeared  to  un 
settle,  in  a  measure,  some  former  ideas  of  rank 
and  power  apparently  held  by  the  recruit,  for  he 
inquired  timidly:  "Am  dat  ar  gin'ral  ob  de 
Zourabs  a  bigger  man  dan  Massa  Thompson?" 
The  other  turned  on  him  with  scorn  and  con 
tempt  in  both  voice  and  manner,  and  by  way  of 
reply  asked:  "Who  feed  you  nigger?  Whar 
you  git  yo'  blankets  from  ?  Who  git  yo'  de 


UPHOLDING  THE  DIGNITY  OF  RANK.  233 

money  for  yo'  wo'k  ?  Does  dis  yer  gin'ral  of  de 
Zourabs  gib  it  to  yo',  or  does  Massa  Thompson 
gib  it  to  yo?  Go  'way  nigga  yo'  mak  me  tired." 
Of  course  the  other  negro  slunk  away,  no  doubt 
feeling  that  he  had  been  properly  rebuked  for 
permitting  himself  to  doubt  for  a  moment  that 
Massa  Thompson  was  the  "  biggest "  man  on  the 
Island. 

A  certain  class  of  officers  in  the  service  during 
the  war  (which  may  be  said  to  be  also  true  of 
certain  others  yet  in  the  army),  found  considera 
ble  difficulty  in  maintaining  a  degree  of  dignity 
satisfactory  to  themselves  without  using  all 
the  accessories  possible,  the  most  noticeable 
being  the  constant  attendance  of  an  orderly, 
both  in  season  and  out  of  season.  Thompson, 
who  held  the  rank  of  Niggardier-General,  not 
to  be  outdone  by  his  fellow  officers  of  high 
rank,  felt  called  upon  to  do  the  same.  It  was 
suspected,  however,  that  there  was  a  little  sly 
humor  in  this  and  that  probably  he  had  in  mind 
Burns'  lines 

"  Oh !  wad  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us 
To  see  oursel's  as  ithers  see  us,"  etc. 

But  be  that  as  it  may,  he  was  followed  on  all 
occasions  of  ceremony  and  when  visiting  head 
quarters  for  orders,  or  on  ordinary  duty,  by  his 
orderly.  This  individual  was  a  diminutive  negro 
about  seven  or  eight  years  old,  and  small  for  that 


234   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

age.  The  sergeant  had  him  fitted  out  with  a 
complete  Zouave  uniform,  fez  included,  and 
had  trained  him  to  follow  at  a  distance  of  two 
or  three  paces,  and  to  conform  to  every  move 
ment  of  his  chief  like  a  bugler  to  his  command 
ing  officer  on  drill  or  in  action.  It  was  a  source 
of  great  amusement  to  the  men  to  see  the  per 
formances  of  the  little  darkey  orderly.  When 
Thompson  moved  the  orderly  moved,  and 
when  Thompson  stopped  the  orderly  halted 
like  a  well-trained  soldier.  If  it  became  neces 
sary  to  stop  to  converse  with  acquaintances,  to 
report  to  a  superior  officer,  or  for  any  other 
purpose,  the  first  thing  the  sergeant  did  was  to 
turn  quickly  and  look  sternly  at  the  orderly, 
who  would  cast  a  quick  upward  glance  at  him 
exactly  like  that  of  a  trained  dog.  Thompson 
would  say  sharply:  "Salute  the  gentlemen! 
What  do  I  keep  you  for?"  when  the  little  fellow 
would  execute  the  military  salute  with  a  pre 
cision  and  dignity  equal  to  the  showiest  drum- 
major  in  the  army. 

On  the  afternoon  of  a  scorching  day,  July 
loth,  final  orders  were  received  to  leave  Roa- 
noke  Island,  and  it  proved  to  be  a  departure 
for  all  time.  No  doubt  there  were  a  variety  of 
sensations  in  the  breast  of  the  soldiers  as  they 
tramped  with  well  filled  knapsacks  through  the 
hot  sand  to  the  transports.  The  vessels  quickly 


FAREWELL   TO  ROANOKE  ISLAND.  235 

got  up  anchor  and  sailed  for  Norfolk,  Va.  The 
troops  arrived  early  on  the  I2th  inst,  landing 
and  making  camp  within  a  stone's  throw  of  Old 
Fort  Norfolk. 

The  boys  parted  from  Roanoke  Island  with 
many  regrets,  for  while  an  inconvenient  place, 
in  the  sense  that  it  required  a  long  time  to 
receive  a  letter  from  home,  still  there  were  many 
pleasant  memories  connected  with  their  stay 
there.  It  was  there  they  saw  their  first  severe 
active  service,  and  where  they  had  so  conducted 
themselves  as  to  earn  favorable  comments  from 
the  several  generals  in  command.  For  their 
conduct  there  they  had  received  the  plaudits 
of  the  Northern  press.  The  pictorial  weeklies 
had  emblazoned  their  celebrated  bayonet  charge 
both  far  and  wide,  which  illustrations  had 
been  copied  in  some  of  the  foreign  illustrated 
periodicals,  while  artists  had  embraced  the  sub 
ject  in  their  studies. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  which  ends  the 
career  of  the  regiment  in  North  Carolina,  it 
may  be  interesting  to  mention  some  of  the  fruits 
of  the  victories  gained  by  the  Burnside  expe 
dition. 

At  Roanoke  Island :  4  forts  mounting  29 
guns;  3  rebel  gunboats  destroyed  by  the  fleet; 
4,000  prisoners  with  their  arms  and  equipments 


286    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

and   a    stragetical    position  which  commanded 
both  the  North  Carolina  Sounds. 

At  Newberne  :  9  forts  mounting  41  heavy 
guns;  over  two  miles  of  intrenchments  with  19 
field  pieces  in  position,  and  6  32-pdrs.,  un 
mounted;  over  300  prisoners  and  more  than 
1,000  stand  of  small  arms  ;  tents  and  barracks 
for  10,000  troops;  large  amounts  of  army  sup 
plies  and  naval  stores,  and  the  control  of  the 
second  commercial  city  of  North  Carolina. 

Fort  Macon,  with  67  guns  and  over  500  prison 
ers. 

The  Union  losses  were  comparatively  small 
when  the  great  result  attained  by  them  is  con 
sidered. 

At  Roanoke  Island  the  Union  losses  were : 
Army,  37  killed,  214  wounded,  13  missing; 
total,  264. 

Navy,  3  killed,  IT  wounded;  total,  14. 

Confederate  loss  not  ascertained. 

At  South  Mills  or  Camden,  Union  loss:  13 
killed,  101  wounded,  13  missing;  total,  127. 

Confederate  loss:  6  killed,  19  wounded,  3 
missing;  total,  28. 

At  Newberne  the  Union  losses  were :  90 
killed,  380  wounded,  i  missing;  total,  471. 

Confederate  loss  :  64  killed,  2 1 4  wounded,  4 1 3 
captured  and  missing;  total,  578. 


FRUITS  OF  THE  BURNSIDE  EXPEDITION.         237 

At  Fort  Macon  :  9  killed,  25  wounded  on  both 
sides. 

Truly  Gen.  Burnside  was  not  vain-glorious 
when,  on  leaving  the  department,  he  said : 

"  The  Burnside  expedition  has  passed  into 
history.  Its  record  we  can  be  proud  of.  No 
body  of  troops  ever  had  more  difficulties  to  over 
come  in  the  same  space  of  time.  Its  perils  were 
both  by  land  and  water.  Defeat  never  befell  it. 
No  gun  was  lost  by  it.  Its  experience  was  a 
succession  of  honorable  victories." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

FAREWELL  TO  ROANOKE  ISLAND  —  ARRIVAL  AT  OLD 
FORT  NORFOLK,  VA.— OFF  FOR  FORTRESS  MONROE- 
ARRIVAL  AT  FALMOUTH,  VA.— DRILLS  AND  DRESS 
PARADES  A  PROMINENT  FEATURE  — RUMORS  OF 
DISASTER  — ARMY  DESERTS  FREDERICKSBURG  AND 
DESTROYS  STORES  —  POPE'S  CAMPAIGN  AND  DIS 
ASTROUS  FAILURE  — McCLELLAN  AGAIN  IN  COM 
MAND  OF  ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC  —  DISORDER  IN 
WASHINGTON  —  CAMP  AT  MERIDIAN  HILL  —  OFF 
FOR  THE  MARYLAND  CAMPAIGN  —  DESCRIPTION 
OF  MARCH— SKIRMISHES  WITH  THE  ENEMY— ARRI 
VAL  AT  FREDERICK  CITY,  MD.— HOSPITALITY  OF 
INHABITANTS  — FIRE  IN  JAIL  — ON  TO  ANTIETAM  - 
BATTLE  OF  SOUTH  MOUNTAIN  —  COOLNESS  OF 
MAJOR  JARDINE  UNDER  FIRE  —  DEATH  OF  GENERAL 
RENO  AND  COMMENTS  ON  HIS  SOLDIERLY  QUALI 
TIES—ARRIVAL  NEAR  ANTIETAM— NIGHT  BEFORE 
THE  BATTLE. 

THE  route  from  Roanoke  Island  to  Norfolk 
lay  through  Croatan  Sound  and  North 
River,  to  and  through  the  Dismal  Swamp 
Canal  and  Elizabeth  river.  The  journey  was 
full  of  interest  to  the  Zouaves,  many  of 
whom  were  entirely  unacquainted  with  the 
sights  and  sounds  of  that  strange  region. 
Owing  to  the  shallow  water  of  the  Dismal 
Swamp  Canal,  [the  transports  stopped  at  its 


THE  JOURNEY  TO  NORFOLK.  239 

headwater  and  the  troops  were  transferred  to 
vessels  of  lesser  draught  which  were  to  be  towed 
through  the  canal  by  tugboats.  The  human  heart 
is  always  profoundly  moved  by  the  majesty 
of  silence.  The  faculties  of  the  mind  are 
more  keenly  alert  and  the  emotions  more  re 
sponsive  at  the  midnight  hour  than  during  the 
hum  of  busy  noon.  Thus  when  the  world- 
famed  Dismal  Swamp  was  entered  new  enotions 
were  put  into  life — set  at  liberty,  so  to  speak. 

"  Silence!  coeval  with  eternity! 
Thou  wert  ere  nature's  self  began  to  be." 

To  the  northern  soldiers  all  was  new  and 
strange  and  they  also  were  silent.  The  boats 
glided  weird  and  ghost-like  through  the  dark 
water,  "amid  the  ancient  forests  of  a  land  mild, 
gloomy,  magnificently  grand,"  and  when  a 
comrade's  attention  was  desired 

"  The  tongue  moved  gently  first,  and  speech  was  low." 

The  straight  columns  of  the  cypresses  towered 
far  above,  their  gnarled  roots,  rugged  and  but 
tress-like  where  they  showed  above  the  water. 
Clinging  to  them  were  whisks  and  festoons  of 
Spanish  moss  contrasting  beautifully  against 
the  darker  hue  of  trunk  and  branches.  And 
now  the  boats  seem  to  stand  still,  while  troop 
ing  toward  them  came  holly,  juniper,  cotton- 
gum,  and  sweet-bay  scattered  thickly  among 
the  lordly  cypress.  A  species  of  bamboo-cane 


24O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

grew  profusely,  its  graceful  stems  bending  over 
the  brown  water,  or  standing  stiffly  erect  in 
small  huddling  crowds.  On  the  dry  ridges 
were  beech,  and  oak  and  through  the  over 
hanging  foliage  the  light  struggled  down  sub 
dued  and  soft  as  through  cathedral  windows. 
Nor  was  it  indeed  utterly  desolate  and  voice 
less.  Occasionally  the  sweet  notes  of  a  song 
bird  filtered  through  the  trees  or  a  startled  gray 
crane,  with  discordant  cry,  flapped  heavily 
upward  from  the  water.  Blue  heron  were 
sometimes  seen,  but  quickly  disappeared  down 
the  long  vista  before,  or  darted  into  a  familiar 
bayou  out  of  sight  and  danger. 

On  one  occasion  a  solitary  negro  appeared 
upon  the  elevated  bank  of  the  canal,  and  stared 
in  open-mouthed  wonder  at  the  troops  as  they 
passed  in  slow  review  before  him.  To  the  many 
questions  and  salutations  hurled  at  him  he  re 
turned  no  answer,  but  gazed  in  speechless 
astonishment  at  the  gliding  boats  and  their  armed 
and  uniformed  passengers.  Long  after  the  flo 
tilla  had  passed  he  remained  on  the  bank, 
motionless  as  a  statue,  until  the  intervening 
foliage  hid  him  from  view.  Speculation  ran  high 
among  the  more  romantic  and  imaginative  of  the 
men  as  to  who  he  was  and  where  he  came  from. 
Had  he  escaped  from  a  cruel  master  to  liberty 
and  a  home  in  the  great  dismal  swamp?  Had 


THE  ARRIVAL  A T  NORFOLK.  24  1 

he  eluded  the  overseer  and  baffled  the  blood 
hounds  ?  Was  he  alone  in  this  solitude  ?  Was 
his  habitation  near  ?  How  did  he  subsist  ?  Was 
he  still  a  slave  or  was  he  merely  a  "free  nigger" 
engaged  in  the  regular  occupation  of  shingle 
making  ?  Some  of  the  boys  were  by  this  time 
about  ready  to  expect  Tom  Moore's  ghostly 
Indian  maiden  with  her  white  canoe  and  fire-fly 
lamp. 

Altogether  the  journey  through  the  swamp 
was  a  pleasant  experience,  which  for  novelty  and 
instruction  could  scarcely  be  surpassed.  It  was 
greatly  enjoyed  by  all. 

On  the  morning  of  July  i2th,  the  vessels  ar 
rived  at  their  destination,  and  the  regiment,  dis 
embarking,  went  into  camp  at  old  Fort  Norfolk. 
They  remained  at  Norfolk  about  a  month,  the 
time  being  passed,  as  usual,  in  the  execution  of 
drills  and  parades. 

It  was  at  Norfolk  that  the  increased  number 
of  visitors  at  dress  parade  first  became  noticeable. 
Many  visiting  soldiers,  officers,  as  well  as  privates, 
were  sure  to  grace  the  occasion  of  that  ceremony 
with  their  presence.  Some  of  the  New  York 
militia  regiments  who  had  responded  to  the 
President's  call  for  thirty  day  troops,  were  then 
stationed  at  Fortress  Monroe.  They  were  eager 
to  observe  the  Zouaves  at  drill,  and  many  ob 
tained  passes  and  visited  old  Fort  Norfolk  for 
that  purpose. 


242    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

The  color  line  of  the  regiment  was  on  ground 
recently  cleared  of  trees,  the  stumps  being  left 
still  standing.  This  was  the  cause  of  much  dis 
tress  of  mind  to  all  the  troops — men  and  officers 
alike,  as  the  difficulty  of  marching  or  carrying 
out  any  movement  among  the  obstructing 
stumps  was  very  great.  It  was,  nevertheless, 
the  best  of  practice,  and  taught  the  men  to  pre 
serve  alignment  with  great  precision  under  bet 
ter  or  ordinary  conditions.  The  manner  in 
which  the  various  companies  moved  out  of  their 
respective  streets  at  the  adjutant's  call  was  a 
sight  much  appreciated  by  the  visitors,  judging 
by  the  generous  applause  bestowed  each 


evening. 


The  old  smooth-bore  muskets  with  which  the 
men  were  originally  armed,  and  which  were 
known  among  them  as  "Columbiads,"  were 
here  turned  in  and  the  new  Springfields  issued 
in  their  stead,  much  to  the  delight  of  everyone, 
from  the  colonel  to  the  drummer  boys.  The 
Springfields  were  far  handsomer  in  appearance, 
weighed  less,  and,  as  the  calibre  was  smaller, 
the  ammunition  was  lighter,  the  latter  being  a 
matter  of  no  small  importance. 

On  July  24th,  tents  were  struck,  and  the 
Ninth,  with  its  camp  equipage,  embarked  on  the 
steamer  "  C.  S.  Terry,"  during  a  driving  rain. 
The  destination  was  Newport  News,  which  was 


BACK  AT  NEWPORT  NEWS.  243 

reached  about  noon  of  the  same  day.  The  road 
here  was  lined  with  encampments  of  other 
regiments,  past  which  the  Ninth  was  obliged  to 
march.  The  distinctive  dress  of  the  Zouaves 
disclosed  their  identity  to  the  others  at  once, 
many  of  whom  viewed  them  for  the  first  time. 
Their  reputation  for  tried  and  seasoned 
soldiers,  however,  had  evidently  preceded  them 
for  their  passage  was  a  continuous  ovation.  On 
a  bluff  near  the  James  river,  not  far  from  the 
camp  which  it  first  occupied,  the  regiment 
halted  and  raised  its  tents.  Ten  days  later 
(Sunday,  August  3d)  the  regiment  again  broke 
camp  in  another  drenching  rain  and  boarded 
the  steamer  "  New  York/'  which  in  the  after 
noon  carried  them  away  to  join  the  army  of  the 
Potomac.  After  a  delay  of  about  five  hours  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  the  steamer  proceeded  at  9 
o'clock  P.M.,  up  the  now  famous  Potomac  river 
reaching  Acquia  Creek  about  10  o'clock  the 
next  forenoon.  On  .the  following  day  (August 
5th)  the  soldiers  were  transferred  to  the  steamer 
"Columbia/1  bound  for  Brent's  Point,  where 
they  arrived  about  noon  and  boarded  a  railway 
train  for  Falmouth  Station.  Falmouth  Station 
was  on  the  Stafford  side  of  the  Rappahannock 
opposite  the  City  of  Fredricksburg,  which  could 
be  plainly  seen  from  the  camp.  Here  the  regi 
ment  pitched  its  tents  and  named  the  place 
Camp  Parke,  after  its  brigade-commander. 


244  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

A  detachment  of  one  hundred  men  which  had 
been  left  at  Roanoke  to  pack  up  and  guard  the 
surplus  stores  left  behind  by  the  regiment, 
arrived  on  August  8th,  under  command  of 
Captain  Graham,  bringing  also  the  regimental 
uniforms. 

Knapsack  drills  were  now  the  order  of  the  day, 
but  the  Ninth  showed  they  could  maintain  their 
perfect  drill  under  any  conditions. 

The  regimental  band  had  been  re-organized 
and  enlarged  and  the  members  clothed  in  new 
uniforms.  Under  the  excellent  leadership  of 
Mr.  Wallace,  of  New  York  City,  their  music 
was  of  a  high  order  and  their  appearance 
decidedly  attractive. 

The  proficiency  of  the  regiment  in  all  matters 
pertaining  to  the  duties  of  a  soldier  was  shown 
in  its  complete  mastery  of  military  details. 
Guard  mounting  and  guard  duty,  discipline, 
style  and  finish  in  the  performance  of  the 
manual  of  arms,  promptness  and  accuracy  in 
the  fulfillment  of  camp  duties,  and  especially 
the  efficiency  of  battalion  drills  and  dress 
parades,  very  quickly  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  members  of  neighboring  regiments. 
Soldiers  off  duty,  and  occasionally  officers, 
began  to  notice  the  drills  and  parades,  and 
they  evidently  spread  the  report  among  their 
comrades,  for  the  audiences  began  to  swell 


VISITORS  AT  DRILL  AND  PARADE.  245 

daily  until  the  parade  ground  was  lined  with 
a  large  crowd  ere  the  parade  began.  Horse. 
and  foot  came  from  all  directions  to  view  the 
Zouaves.  In  pleasant  weather  enlisted  men 
by  the  hundred,  mounted  officers  by  the  score, 
and  even  generals  did  not  disdain  to  carefully 
scrutinize  the  movements.  It  is  recalled  with 
pride  that  General  McClellan,  who  was  at 
Fredericksburg  for  several  days  just  previous  to 
the  withdrawal  of  the  corps  to  Washington,  was 
present  with  his  staff  on  more  than  one  occa 
sion.  The  members  of  the  regiment  did  not 
fail  to  notice  the  interest  shown  by  the  other 
troops  and  the  resulting  pride  tended  to 
strengthen  their  esprit  de  corps  and  assisted 
them  to  maintain  their  high  standard. 

The  foregoing  is  not  written  with  an  intention 
to  exaggerate,  nor  with  a  boastful  spirit. 
Doubtless,  there  are  still  many  of  those  specta 
tors  living  at  this  writing  who  could  vouch  for 
its  historical  truth.  To  the  little  company  of 
survivors  of  the  regiment,  however,  these 
statements  are  known  not  to  be  exaggerations, 
and  they,  through  the  instrumentality  of  this 
small  history,  assure  their  relatives  and  friends 
of  its  truth. 

The  details  for  picket  duty  on  the  Orange 
Court  House,  Culpepper,  and  other  roads 
leading  from  the  city  into  the  enemy's  country, 
consisted  of  entire  regiments. 


246   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

When  the  Zouaves  were  detailed  they  always 
paraded  in  full  dress  uniforms,  headed  by  the 
band  with  its  new  instruments,  and  led  by 
Drum-Major  Wiley,  who  was  most  gorgeously 
arrayed ;  and  their  progress  through  the  city, 
which  was  as  though  marching  on  review, 
attracted  universal  attention. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  appearance  of  a 
genuine  Yankee  regiment,  in  full  dress,  with 
colors  flying,  and  band  playing,  had  its  effect 
upon  the  inhabitants  of  Fredericksburg. 

On  August  1 2th,  Company  H  was  sent  to 
guard  Potomac  Creek  Bridge,  and  on  the  i4th, 
Lieutenant  Herbert  was  detached  with  a  force 
of  twenty-nine  men  and  two  guns  from  Battery 
K,  with  orders  to  break  up  a  rebel  ferry,  which 
was  being  operated  some  miles  down  the  river. 
Embarking  on  the  steamer  "  Cooper's  Point," 
he  hurried  down  the  Rappahannock  river  to  the 
ferry,  the  affair  being  managed  so  skillfully  and 
secretly  as  to  prove  a  complete  surprise.  After 
a  brief  conflict  the  detachment  captured  thirteen 
of  the  enemy  with  their  side-arms,  a  quantity  of 
baggage,  and  four  horses,  and  after  destroying 
all  means  of  transportation  at  the  ferry,  returned 
safely  without  the  loss  of  a  man. 

At  this  time  news  was  received  of  the 
crushing  defeat  of  the  army  under  Pope,  and 
the  invasion  of  Maryland  by  Lee's  forces;  and 


UiVEASINESS  A  rF  FREDERICKSB  URG.  247 

General   McClellan   was  once  more  placed    in 
command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

Some  days  before  this  rumors  were  circulated 
that  bodies  of  troops  had  repeatedly  been 
detached  from  the  army  and  sent  towards  the 
right,  up  the  Rappahannock. 

Reports  were  also  rife  about  battles  having 
been  fought  to  the  northwest  of  Fredericks- 
burg  with  varying  results,  and  finally  that  the 
enemy  had  defeated  Sigel  and  broken  through 
the  Union  lines  away  towards  the  right. 

Great  activity  was  also  observed  among  the 
higher  officers  connected  with  headquarters,  and 
the  soldiers  soon  manifested  a  restless  and 
uneasy  feeling,  which  could  not  be  well  defined 
or  described. 

It  was  not  the  same  uneasiness  which  soldiers 
usually  exhibited  on  the  eve  of  a  battle,  but  was 
more  like  the  effect  of  a  belief  that  some  import 
ant  movement  had  resulted  in  failure,  and  that 
defeat  and  disaster  were  impending;  still  there 
was  nothing  tangible  on  which  to  base  such  a 
belief,  beyond  the  mysterious  camp  rumors 
prevailing.  It  was  an  epidemic  of  uneasiness 
and  unrest. 

Marching  orders  at  last  came  to  their  relief, 
attended  with  great  haste  and  consequent 
confusion.  As  the  Zouaves  moved  from  camp 
and  marched  over  the  hills  near  Falmouth,  on 


248    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS, 

the  evening  of  August  3ist,  the  sky  reflected 
several  large  fires  in  as  many  different  por 
tions  of  the  city.  The  troops  intuitively  recog 
nized  this  as  the  destruction  of  stores  and  im 
pedimenta  which  could  not  be  saved  for  lack  of 
time.  The  regiment  took  up  the  line  of  march 
which,  though  only  fifteen  miles  long,  will 
never  be  forgotten  while  the  participants  live. 
A  furious  rain  storm  had  raged  all  the  previous 
night  while  on  picket,  and  the  men  with  every 
thing  in  their  possession,  excepting  muskets  and 
cartridges,  were  thoroughly  soaked.  Under 
any  and  all  conditions  these  latter  must  be 
protected  from  injury.  Tents  were  struck  in  the 
mud,  and  all  regimental  property  which  could 
not  be  carried  on  an  active  campaign  was 
securely  and  strongly  packed  for  storage. 

Here  the  theatrical  properties  and  scenery 
which  had  been  gotten  up,  or  acquired  while  at 
Roanoke  Island,  had  to  be  abandoned  for  lack 
of  transportation.  They  had  been  carefully 
guarded  and  cared  for  by  the  men  during  the 
migrations  of  the  regiment  subsequent  to  the 
departure  from  that  station,  in  the  hope  that  an 
opportunity  might  present  itself  to  again  start 
the  theatre,  but  at  last  they  had  to  be  left  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  the  "  Rebs."  Many  a  laugh 
was  afterward  indulged  in  by  the  men  at  the 
thought  of  how  astonished  the  Johnnies  must 


THE  MARCH  TO  ACQUIA  CREEK.  249 

have  been  at  coming  into  possession  of  such 
strange  looking  articles,  and  the  way  in  which 
they  must  have  stared  at  them  and  wondered 
and  guessed  at  their  uses. 

The  breaking  up  of  a  camp  involves  an  im 
mense  amount  of  labor,  and  as  this  work  was 
begun  the  instant  the  regiment  was  relieved 
from  picket  no  opportunity  occurred  for  "  clean 
ing  up  "  or  drying  clothes  and  blankets.  The 
additional  weight  of  soaked  blankets  to  the 
knapsacks  was  a  most  trying  burden  to  carry 
even  on  good  roads. 

At  6  P.M.,  the  Zouaves  moved  forward  on  the 
road  for  Acquia  Creek,  and  the  night  soon  en 
closed  them  in  pitchy  darkness.  The  rough  and 
hilly  roads,  muddy  and  slippery  from  the  recent 
rains,  with  occasional  swollen  streams  to  ford 
made  marching  almost  intolerable.  At  last, 
about  5  A.M.,  weary,  worn,  blistered  and  bleeding, 
they  reached  the  landing,  and  after  a  little  delay 
marched  about  four  miles  to  the  bluffs  over 
looking  the  river  where  they  bivouacked  in 
line  of  battle  to  act  as  a  support  for  the  artillery 
there  stationed  and  to  cover  the  embarkation  of 
the  other  troops. 

In  company  with  other  commands  they  re 
mained  on  the  hills  for  two  days,  destitute  of 
tents  or  rations,  until  the  remainder  of  the  army, 
with  all  stores  and  camp  equipage,  had  embarked 
on  transports. 


250   NINTH  REGIMEN'],  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

On  the  4th  they  marched  back  to  the  landing, 
and  at  8  P.M.,  boarded  the  "  Louisiana,"  bound 
for  Washington,  arriving  there  at  10  o'clock  the 
next  forenoon.  Notwithstanding  that  large 
numbers  of  troops  had  recently  passed  through 
that  city,  the  inhabitants  still  showed  their 
appreciation  of  a  perfect  company  front,  and 
the  Zouaves'  brisk  change  of  manual  while 
marching  called  forth  frequent  applause.  After 
marching  a  few  miles  beyond  the  city  limits 
they  bivouacked  on  Meridian  Hill. 

While  in  bivouac  here  and  owing  to  the 
humid  days  and  cool  nights,  accompanied  by 
heavy  dews,  and  the  fact  that  the  regiment  was 
without  tents,  the  men  suffered  severely.  Soon, 
however,  marching  orders  were  received  and 
preparations  made  for  an  arduous  campaign. 

On  September  yth  Colonel  Hawkins  received 
leave  of  absence  and,  turning  over  the  com 
mand  of  his  brigade  to  Colonel  Fairchild,  de 
parted  for  New  York  City,  regretting  that  it 
was  obligatory  for  him  to  leave  the  army  at 
the  commencement  of  a  new  and  what  proved 
to  be  a  most  important  campaign.  The  Ninth 
Corps  now  became  incorporated  with  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  and  the  Zouaves  won  new  and 
unfading  laurels  through  their  historic  charge 
on  the  desperate  field  of  Antietam. 

It  may  be  as  well  to  state  that  by  reason  of  this 


WHAT  FOLLOWED  THE  PENINSULAR  CAMPAIGN.    251 

leave  of  absence  the  ist  Brigade,  3d  Division, 
9th  Corps,  then  officially  known  as  "  Hawkins' 
Brigade,"  now  became  "  Fairchild's  Brigade," 
and  it  was  so  kno\vn  and  designated  in  all  offi 
cial  reports  and  accounts  of  movements  and 
battles  which  occurred  during  this  most  im 
portant  campaign. 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  its  campaign 
up  the  Peninsular  had  met  with  reverses  in 
front  of  Richmond,  and  retreated  to  Harrison's 
Landing  on  the  James  river.  In  the  meantime 
Major-General  John  Pope  had  been  called  from 
his  successful  campaign  in  the  West,  and  placed 
in  general  command  of  the  armies  of  McDowell, 
Fremont  and  Banks,  although  he  was  junior 
in  rank  to  the  other  three  generals. 

The  purpose  of  this  united  command  was  to 
make  a  demonstration  toward  Gordonsville  and 
Charlottesville  and  thus  draw  off  part  of  Lee's 
forces  from  McClellan's  front. 

On  June  26th  (which  was  the  second  day  of 
the  "Seven  Days'  Fight")  President  Lincoln 
issued  an  order  calling  this  command  the  "Army 
of  Virginia." 

Early  in  July  Jackson's  corps  was  detached 
from  Lee's  army  confronting  McClellan  at  Har 
rison's  Landing,  and  on  the  igth  of  that  month 
was  at  Gordonsville  confronting  Pope,  while 


252    NIN'IH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Stuart's  rebel  cavalry  division  was  sent  toward 
Fredericksburg  to  watch  the  movements  of  the 
Union  forces  from  that  direction.  During  his 
operations  on  the  Virginia  Peninsular  McClel- 
lan  received  nearly  160,000  men.  When  Pres 
ident  Lincoln  reviewed  the  army  at  Harrison's 
Landing  on  July  yth,  he  saw  only  86,000,  the 
remainder  having  been  removed  by  disease  or 
casualties  on  the  field,  fully  50,000  being  victims 
of  malaria  and  fever.  The  President  and  his 
cabinet  now  decided  that  an  older  and  wiser 
soldier  should  be  placed  at  the  head  of  all  the 
Federal  armies,  and  as  Gen.  Henry  Wager 
Halleck  had  shown  ability  in  the  west,  he  was 
summoned  to  Washington,  and  on  July  nth 
appointed  commander-in-chief. 

Mr.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War,  strenuously 
opposed  this  appointment  but  was  over-ruled. 

On  July  30th,  Halleck  ordered  McClellan  to 
send  away  his  sick  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and 
telegraphed  him  August  3d  :  "  It  is  determined 
to  withdraw  your  army  from  the  Peninsular  to 
Acquia  Creek.  You  will  take  immediate  meas 
ures  to  effect  this."  .  .  . 

McClellan  protested  against  this  movement, 
as  did  Generals  Dix,  Burnside  and  Sumner,  but 
without  effect.  August  I3th  Longstreet's  whole 
corps  was  sent  to  join  Jackson  at  Gordonsville, 
to  which  place  he  had  fallen  back  from  Cedar 


POPE'S  DEFEA  T  AT  MAN  ASS  AS.  263 

Mountain,  and  these  forces  were  commanded  by 
Lee  in  person.  This  left  nothing  but  D.  H. 
Hill's  corps  confronting  McClellan,  who,  had 
he  been  permitted,  might  possibly  have  taken 
Richmond  with  very  little  resistance. 

The  first  of  McClellan's  troops  arrived  at 
Acquia  Creek  within  seven  days,  and  the  last 
of  the  infantry  within  twenty-six  days  after  the 
receipt  of  Halleck's  order. 

Before  the  majority  of  these  troops  could 
reach  Pope  he  abandoned  his  line  on  the  Rap- 
pahannock  to  concentrate  his  whole  force  in  the 
direction  of  VVarrenton  and  Gainesville,  to  con 
front  the  enemy  who  were  rapidly  marching  to 
his  right. 

Jackson,  passing  through  Thoroughfare  Gap, 
reached  Manassas  Junction  in  the  rear  of  Pope, 
and  between  him  and  Washington,  overcoming 
the  small  force  left  to  guard  the  large  quanti 
ties  of  supplies  gathered  •  there.  These  he 
destroyed,  while  Stuart  struck  Catlett's  Sta 
tion,  thirty-five  miles  from  Washington,  where 
were  most  of  the  Federal  wagon  trains,  and 
destroyed  what  he  could  not  carry  off,  the 
feat  being  a  peculiarly  daring  and  effec 
tive  one.  Jackson  made  this  wonderful  march 
of  fifty-six  miles  over  difficult  roads  in  the  short 
space  of  thirty-six  hours.  These  disasters  were 
followed  by  the  second  battle  of  Bull  Run,  in 


254    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

which  Pope  was  disastrously  defeated,  and  his 
army  stampeded  toward  Washington  in  as 
great  disorder  as  in  the  first  Bull  Run  ;  in  fact 
all  communication  between  Pope  and  Wash 
ington  was  cut  off  from  August  26th  until  the 
30th.  The  greatest  panic  prevailed  in  Wash 
ington,  and  its  early  capture  by  the  Confeder 
ates  wras  greatly  feared,  and  yet  it  was  defended 
by  an  army  of  110,000  men,  for  in  addition  to 
Pope's  army,  which  was  falling  back,  there  were 
40,000  veterans  standing  before  the  lines  who 
had  not  fired  a  shot  in  the  campaign  ;  behind 
the  lines  30,000  good  men  of  the  garrisons  and 
the  reserves,  two-thirds  of  whom  were  veterans 
in  discipline  though  untried  in  battle. 

General  McClellan  and  staff  rode  into  the  city 
on  the  morning  of  September  2d,  as  one  writer 
says  :  "  Through  an  innumerable  herd  of  strag 
glers,  mingled  with  an  endless  stream  of  wagons 
and  ambulances,  urged  on  by  uncontrollable 
teamsters,  which  presently  poured  into  Washing 
ton,  overflowed  it,  took  possession  of  its  streets 
and  public  places  and  held  high  orgie." 

Disorder  reigned  unchecked  and  confusion 
was  everywhere. 

The  clerks  in  the  departments,  many  of 
whom  had  been  hurried  toward  the  front  to  do 
service  as  nurses,  were  now  hastily  formed  into 
companies  and  battalions  for  defense.  The 


THE  MAR  J  'L  AND  CAMPAIGN.  255 

Government  ordered  the  arms  and  ammunition 
at  the  arsenal  and  the  money  in  the  treasury 
to  be  shipped  to  New  York,  and  the  banks 
followed  the  example.  A  gunboat,  with  steam 
up,  lay  in  the  river  off  the  White  House,  as  if 
to  announce  to  the  army  and  the  inhabitants 
the  impending  flight  of  the  administration.  It 
was  at  this  juncture  that  the  President,  on  his 
own  responsibility,  once  more  charged  General 
McClellan  with  the  defense  of  the  capitol.  On 
the  afternoon  of  the  yth  (Lee's  army  having 
disappeared  from  in  front  of  Washington) 
87,000  men  were  in  motion,  and  General 
McClellan  set  out  for  Rockville  to  put  himself 
at  their  head,  leaving  73,000  men,  120  field- 
pieces,  and  about  500  heavy  guns  in  position, 
or  nearly  one-half  of  McClellan's  entire  army. 
General  Lee,  his  army  flushed  with  victories, 
had  begun  an  invasion  of  the  North  by  way  of 
Maryland. 

Moving  from  Meridian  Hill  on  the  morning 
of  the  7th  of  September,  the  Ninth  proceeded 
some  ten  miles  and  went  into  bivouac.  On 
the  following  day  shelter  tents  were  issued  to 
the  men.  On  the  morning  of  the  gth  reveille 
was  sounded  at  three  o'clock,  and  at  sunrise 
march  was  resumed.  A  march  of  twelve  miles 
brought  the  regiment  to  Brookville  at  1 1  A.M., 
where  it  rested  until  5  P.M.,  and  once  more 


256    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

took  the  road  until  10  P.M.,  having  made  an 
additional  ten  miles  and  camped  near  Laytons- 
ville.  The  movement  continued  the  follow 
ing  day  in  the  direction  of  [Frederick,  but 
after  travelling  some  four  miles  the  regi 
ment  was  ordered  to  retrace  its  steps  to  its  last 
camp  where  it  remained  until  9  A.M.,  of  the 
nth.  Again  starting  for  Frederick  it  passed 
Damascus  at  1.30  P.M,  and  at  five  o'clock 
camped  near  Ridgeville,  after  a  fifteen-mile 
march. 

Thus  far  the  campaign  had  been  of  a  pleas 
ant  nature,  the  weather  had  been  fine,  the 
absence  of  the  accustomed  mud  being  espe 
cially  noticeable,  and  all  were  in  high  spirits. 
The  troops  were  in  what  appeared  to  be  a 
friendly  country,  and  in  comparison  with  the 
Virginia  they  had  seen,  a  beautiful  one.  The 
soldiers  sauntered  Jalong  leisurely  enjoying  the 
rural  scenes  and  the  pleasing  sight  of  men 
pursuing  their  daily  vocations,  while  women 
and  children  stood  in  doorways  or  leaned  from 
windows  to  watch  them  pass.  Horses  and 
cattle  were  grazing  quietly  on  field  and  hillside, 
and  everything  seemed  to  indicate  peace  and 
friendliness  from  the  inhabitants  \vho  seemed 
to  regard  the  troops  as  their  army.  Dust  was 
the  only  disturbing  element.  The  dry  roads 
were  so  pulverized  by  the  continuous  march  of 


THE  MOVING  ARMY.  257 


thousands  of  men  and  miles  of  wagon  trains 
and  artillery,  that  the  men  moved  literally  in  a 
cloud  of  dust  which  was  dispelled  only  occa 
sionally  by  a  gentle  breeze,  but  hardly  long 
enough  to  obtain  a  view  of  the  surrounding 
country.  An  abundant  water  supply  along  the 
route  was  a  comforting  refreshment,  however, 
for  which  all  felt  truly  thankful. 

When  the  regiment  first  moved  out  of 
bivouac  on  the  yth  it  became  a  portion  of  a 
great  river  of  men  rolling  down  toward  Fred 
erick.  A  large  proportion  of  this  stream  of  men 
bore  but  little  resemblance  to  military  organi 
zations.  Thousands  went  plodding  along  the 
road  apparently  entirely  uncontrolled.  Many 
organizations  scattered  among  the  mass  kept 
well  together  in  regular  military  formation  and 
in  good  control  of  their  officers.  But  the  dis 
organized  ones  were  judged  to  have  been  por 
tions  of  Pope's  command,  which  had  not  yet 
recovered  from  the  demoralization  the  result  of 
the  severe  campaign  through  which  they  had 
just  passed. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball  was  determined 
that  the  Ninth  should  not  be  contaminated  by 
this  loose  example,  and  therefore  issued  string 
ent  orders  against  straggling  on  any  pretense 
whatever.  A  strong  detachment  was  each  morn 
ing  detailed  as  a  regimental  rear  guard  during 


258    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

the  day's  march,  with  positive  orders  to  permit 
no  member  of  the  regiment  to  fall  out  for  any 
cause  whatever  unless  ordered  to  an  ambulance 
by  one  of  the  surgeons.  This  guard  was  main 
tained  until  after  leaving  Frederick.  It  is  but 
just  to  state  that  during  the  entire  march  not  a 
man  of  the  "  Ninth  "  straggled  from  his  regi 
ment.  The  disorganized  condition  of  portions 
of  the  troops  above  mentioned  was  corrected 
after  the  campaign  was  fairly  under  way.  Each 
day  saw  an  improvement,  and  within  a  week 
from  the  start,  the  entire  army  was  as  orderly 
and  well  disciplined  in  appearance  as  the  most 
observant  military  critic  could  desire. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  I2th,  march  was 
resumed  along  the  main  turnpike  across  the 
Monocacy  river  for  Frederick  direct,  which  had 
been  invaded  by  "Stonewall"  Jackson's  men. 
Newmarket  was  passed  through  at  one  o'clock, 
and  about  3.30  P.M.,  the  column  was  halted 
under  the  brow  of  Monocacy  ridge. 

Scattering  firing  was  heard  a  short  distance 
ahead.  The  advance  had  struck  the  rebel  army. 
Their  rear  guard  pitched  a  few  shot  and  shell  at 
the  advancing  troops,  more  in  the  way  of  defi 
ance  than  with  a  view  of  making  any  real  resist 
ance  to  the  passage  of  the  Monocacy  bridge.  The 
cavalry  soon  had  the  enemy  on  the  run,  crowd 
ing  them  through  Frederick  and  up  into  the 


SKIRMISHING  AT  THE  FRONT.  259 

Catocin  mountains.  It  was  noticed  and  com 
mented  upon  by  the  rank  and  file  that  when 
these  collisions  occurred  between  the  advance  of 
the  army  and  the  enemy's  rear  guard,  and  it 
became  necessary  to  employ  infantry  for  his 
dislodgment,  none  of  the  veteran  troops  were 
detailed  for  that  duty. 

As  the  troops  moved  along  the  road  they 
would  become  aware  that  an  engagement  was 
taking  place  at  some  distant  point  ahead  by  the 
dull  roar  or  growl  of  the  artillery.  This  sound 
became  more  pronounced  as  they  advanced,  until 
the  sharp  crack  of  the  Napoleons  and  sound  of 
bursting  shells  became  more  distinct.  If  the 
resistance  proved  to  be  so  stubborn  that  the 
available  cavalry  were  not  in  sufficient  force 
to  overcome  it,  the  column  would  come  to  a 
halt,  while  an  infantry  force  strong  enough  to 
effect  the  object  would  be  sent  forward.  These 
troops  were  always  taken  from  the  new  regi 
ments.  On  such  occasions  they  were  seldom 
if  ever  actually  engaged,  for  by  the  time  they 
were  deployed  and  arrangements  completed  for 
the  attack  the  enemy  would  generally  move 
away  to  repeat  the  operation  at  the  next 
favorable  position  found  on  their  line  of  march. 
Thus,  the  recruits  were  made  to  believe  that 
they  had  been  in  battle  and  had  been  vic 
torious,  though  escaping  without  injury.  This 


260   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

use  of  the  new  regiments  was  most  satisfactory 
to  the  veterans.  The  boys  who  were  not  "  sent 
in"  had  a  rest,  and  what  some  of  them  liked 
still  better,  an  opportunity  to  ironically  praise 
the  new  men,  who,  moving  past  the  line  of 
resting  veterans  by  the  roadside,  received  an 
abundance  of  gratuitous  advice  as  to  their 
actions  when  they  should  strike  the  enemy,  also 
very  circumstantial  accounts  of  what  was  tak 
ing  place  at  the  front;  the  force  of  the  enemy, 
what  troops  had  just  been  repulsed,  the  number 
of  killed,  etc.,  etc.,  all  being  purely  imaginary, 
and  done  for  the  purpose  of  frightening  the 
recruits.  All  this  was  regarded  as  immensely 
funny  by  the  veterans.  When  Lieutenant-Col 
onel  Kimball  became  aware  of  this  practice, 
however,  he  at  once  put  a  stop  to  it,  and 
severely  lectured  the  men  for  their  thoughtless 
ness. 

The  advance  was  now  taken  by  the  division 
to  which  the  Ninth  belonged  (General  Rod 
man's)  which  descended  the  ridge,  crossed  the 
bridge,  and  when  within  half  a  mile  of  the  out 
skirts  of  Frederick,  filed  to  the  left  until  the 
whole  command  reached  the  open  fields  across 
the  railroad,  and  moved  in  line  by  brigades, 
over  fences  and  through  the  tall  corn,  where  the 
alignment  could  only  be  maintained  by  observ 
ing  the  tops  of  the  numerous  colors,  the  men 


FREDERICK  CITY'S  WELCOME.  261 

jumping  all  obstacles  and  smashing  down  the 
fences  with  the  butts  of  their  muskets. 

The  advance,  composed  of  cavalry  and  light 
artillery,  was  busily  engaged  with  the  enemy. 
Sharp  skirmishing  was  taking  place  in  the 
streets,  the  fighting  continuing  through  and 
beyond  the  city  until  night  and  darkness 
caused  a  cessation.  Troops  poured  into  the 
city  from  all  the  roads  east  and  south,  and  the 
" Ninth"  pitched  its  camp  upon  the  rocky 
bluff  overlooking  the  railroad  near  the  depot. 
It  was  a  night  of  the  wildest  excitement  in 
Frederick,  the  streets  being  crowded  with 
citizens  who  in  every  way  displayed  their 
loyalty  and  loudly  welcomed  the  brave  veterans 
who  so  hurriedly  rushed  to  their  protection. 
And  it  was  a  night  ever  to  be  remembered  by 
the  tired  and  footsore  troops.  To  those  fortu 
nate  enough  to  obtain  passes  into  the  city  and 
who  were  not  too  weary  to  leave  their  bivouac, 
a  scene  was  presented  which  is  seldom  wit 
nessed  even  by  soldiers  of  a  victorious  army. 

Every  house  was  illuminated,  as  though  for 
a  victory,  the  streets  crowded  with  citizens 
eager  to  welcome  the  soldiers  of  the  grand 
old  Army  of  the  Potomac,  while  refreshments 
were  offered  to  the  men  from  every  door 
step,  trays  and  baskets  of  food,  water,  lemon 
ade,  and  other  and  more  enticing  drinks  were 


262   NIN'IH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

forced  upon  the  soldiers  on  every  side.  All 
residences  were  wide  open  to  any  one  in  uni 
form  who  cared  to  accept  an  invitation  to 
enter,  and  many  a  travel-stained  and  weather- 
beaten  soldier  enjoyed  that  night  the  only  oc 
casion  of  real,  civilized,  social  entertainment 
which  had  fallen  to  his  lot  since  leaving  his 
northern  home.  Among  the  belated  members 
of  the  regiment  returning  to  camp  in  the  "wee 
sma'  hours,"  after  reluctantly  leaving  their 
hospitable  entertainers,  were  Lieutenants  Bar- 
nett  and  Horner.  They  were  so  fortunate  as 
to  discover  a  fire  which  had  broken  out 
in  the  jail  and  threatened  a  serious  confla 
gration.  It  was  thought  probable  that  the 
fire  might  have  been  started  by  sympathizers 
or  emissaries  of  the  enemy  who  had  just 
been  driven  out,  for  the  purpose  of  throwing 
the  city  into  confusion,  and  enabling  them  to 
further  some  scheme  which  would  tend  to  seri 
ously  injure  the  Union  cause.  Barnett  hur 
ried  to  camp  to  report  the  matter  to  Kim- 
ball,  while  Horner  hastened  to  the  jail  to 
render  any  help  possible,  pending  the 
arrival  of  reinforcements,  and  to  release 
and  afterward  prevent  the  escape  of  the  large 
number  of  prisoners  there  confined.  Colonel 
Kimball  at  once  dispatched  three  companies  to 
the  scene  under  Captain  Barnett,  and  they 


FIGHTING  THE  REAR  GUARD.  263 

arrived  about  the  time  that  Horner  and  the 
jailer  had  succeeded  in  opening  all  the  cell 
doors  and  were  driving  the  confused  and 
frightened  prisoners  into  the  jail  yard. 

The  wall  surrounding  the  yard  was  quickly 
mounted  by  the  Zouaves,  which  point  of  vantage 
enabled  them  to  keep  the  prisoners  under  con 
trol  while  the  troops  were  fighting  the  flames 
and  sentinels  were  being  posted  around  the 
vicinity  of  the  jail. 

No  hostile  demonstrations  were  made  by 
either  rebel  sympathizers  or  the  lawless  ele 
ment  and  after  a  while  a  regular  regiment  re 
lieved  the  boys  of  the  Ninth,  who  reached  their 
camp  about  daybreak.  Hardly  had  they  turned 
in  when  reveille  sounded,  and  for  once  the 
order  to  ufall  in"  was  not  obeyed  with  their 
accustomed  alacrity.  Almost  as  soon  as  coffee 
had  been  prepared  and  disposed  of  the  Ninth 
was  ordered  out  to  the  support  of  "  Rush's 
Lancers  "  who,  striving  to  drive  back  the  rebel 
rear  guard,  found  a  detachment  of  them  so 
strongly  posted  that  infantry  was  required  to 
dislodge  them.  Marching  rapidly  toward  Jef- 
erson  the  regiment  reached  the  place  where 
the  Lancers  were  engaged.  The  enemy  had 
a  mountain  howitzer  in  the  road  which  led 
up  to  the  hill  in  front,  but  the  supporting 
force  was  unknown. 


264  NINTH  REGIMENT.  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Companies  C,  H  and  I  were  sent  to  the  right 
and  Company  B  to  the  left  of  the  road  and 
deployed  as  skirmishers,  the  remainder  of  the 
regiment  being  held  in  reserve. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball's  dispositions  of 
the  regiment  were  so  quickly  made,  and  the 
advance  began  so  promptly  that  the  enemy's 
evident  intention  to  fall  back  leisurely  was 
rudely  interrupted.  Two  detachments  of  their 
rear  guard  were  struck  so  suddenly  that  they 
were  scattered  before  either  could  return  a  shot, 
while  some  of  them  were  wounded.  One 
sharpshooter  who  failed  to  obey  the  scriptural 
injunction,  "  Stand  not  upon  the  order  of  your 
going,"  etc.,  was  discovered  by  private  Sam 
March  of  Company  I,  trying  to  conceal  himself 
in  a  tree  where  he  had  taken  position  and  was 
captured.  It  is  not  probable  that  this  detach 
ment  intended  to  seriously  resist  infantry.  They 
simply  opposed  the  cavalry  to  gain  time  for 
their  forces  to  get  farther  away,  thinking  to  es 
cape  easily  themselves  and  without  loss,  as  soon 
as  the  infantry  arrived  within  striking  distance. 

From  the  summit  of  the  ridge,  over  which 
a  portion  of  the  regiment  now  passed  in 
skirmishing  order,  the  whole  valley  stretching 
away  to  South  Mountain  lay  exposed  like 
a  vast  painted  canvas.  Far  to  the  north 
ward  the  village  of  Middletown  was  in  flames. 


TWO  ARMIES  IN  SIGHT.  265 

At  several  points  along  the  foot  of  the  opposite 
ridge  batteries  were  spewing  out  little  clouds 
of  curling  smoke,  pierced  by  angry  tongues  of 
fire.  Cavalry  troops  were  dashing  here  and 
there,  the  infantry  more  slowly  but  deliberately 
advancing  or  retreating,  and  artillery  hurrying 
to  some  new  point  of  vantage.  On  this  im 
mense  stage  the  drama  of  war  was  being  en 
acted  on  a  gigantic  scale.  In  many  a  soldier's 
breast  as  he  gazed  on  the  scene  were  mingled 
the  emotions  of  hatred,  ambition  and  sorrow  at 
the  startling  and  impressive  sight.  Hatred  for 
the  offending  foe,  ambition  to  subdue  him,  and 
sorrow  that  men  should  have  found  it  necessary 
to  take  each  other's  lives  to  establish  a  principle. 

But  little  time  was  given  to  philosophizing. 
The  various  companies  of  the  regiment,  includ 
ing  the  battery  reassembled  on  a  road  on  the 
farther  side  of  the  ridge  and  marched  rapidly 
toward  the  village  of  Jefferson  or  Jeffersonville. 
Fearing  to  be  outflanked  the  enemy  fell  back, 
withdrawing  the  howitzer,  while  the  Ninth 
eagerly  pursued,  but  without  avail,  as  the  John 
nies  were  too  fleet. 

Arriving  at  Jefferson,  arms  were  stacked  in 
the  street,  pickets  thrown  out,  and  the  in 
habitants  regaled  the  Zouaves  with  food  of 
various  kinds,  which  was  eagerly  devoured  by 
the  half-famished  men.  Officers  and  men  took 


266   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

advantage  of  an  opportunity  to  rest,  and  in  a 
few  moments  nearly  all  were  sleeping  by  the 
roadside. 

During  the  whole  afternoon  cannonading 
could  be  plainly  heard  from  the  direction  of 
Harper's  Ferry,  where  Jackson  was  then  mak 
ing  his  attack.  The  deep  boom  of  the  big 
guns  and  the  sharper  crack  of  the  smaller 
ones  was  remarkably  distinct,  and  as  the  men 
awoke  and  were  on  the  quivive,  they  in  im 
agination  followed  the  fortunes  of  the  battle 
raging  a  few  miles  distant.  While  the  Ninth 
was  still  awaiting  orders  General  Franklin's 
command  arrived  and  passed  through  the  vil 
lage  in  the  direction  of  the  firing.  They  were 
a  most  dilapidated  looking  lot,  ragged  and 
weather-beaten,  and  had  evidently  seen  some 
pretty  hard  marching  recently.  From  the  leis 
urely  way  in  which  they  marched  it  was  plain 
that  like  the  Ninth  they  were  not  under  orders 
for  Harper's  Ferry,  where  the  battle  was  still 
raging.  An  officer — said  to  be  General  Frank 
lin --and  his  staff,  dismounted,  procured  some 
refreshments,  and  seating  themselves  on  the 
porch  of  a  house,  ate  with  great  deliberation. 

All  subordinates  in  the  army  of  whatever 
rank  are  well  aware  that  there  are  superiors 
in  abundance  to  do  the  thinking,  and  the 
rank  and  file  are  not  presumed  to  exercise 


THE  RETURN  TO  FREDERICK.  267 

their  brains  on  any  subject  or  to  contem 
plate  any  time  beyond  the  present.  Still  men 
of  inferior  rank,  however  lowly,  have  their 
own  ideas  and  will  cogitate  over  them,  and 
during  this  period  of  rest  at  Jeffersonville 
there  were  many  who  thought  it  would  be  more 
pertinent  to  the  occasion  to  move  forward  and 
create  a  diversion  in  favor  of  the  men  ahead 
who  were  fighting  for  their  lives,  rather  than 
that  thousands  of  men  should  stand  listlessly 
hearkening  to  the  cannonading  at  the  Ferry, 
whose  increasing  volume  'plainly  told  them, 
which  afterward  proved  to  be  correct,  that  their 
comrades  were  in  sore  need  of  assistance. 

About  6  P.M.,  all  pickets  were  drawn  in,  with 
the  exception  of  Sergeant  Jackson,  who  was 
accidentally  left  on  post  with  his  men,  but 
who  fortunately  succeeded  in  joining  the 
regiment  later,  and  the  regiment  started  on 
its  return  to  Frederick,  which  was  reached 
before  midnight,  after  a  march  of  twenty- 
five  miles.  This  was  one  of  the  most 
fatiguing  marches  the  men  had  been  called 
upon  to  make,  not  so  much  because  of  distance 
covered,  as  of  their  exhausted  condition  conse 
quent  upon  the  amount  of  labor  they  had  been 
called  upon  to  perform  in  the  preceding  forty- 
eight  hours.  On  the  I2th  they  had  been  in 
line  of  battle  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  leav- 


268    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

ing  the  roads  and  advancing  across  country 
through  field  and  wood,  plowed  land  and 
meadow,  which  is  the  hardest  kind  of  work 
entailed  on  the  soldier,  heavily  weighted  as  he 
is  with  musket  and  equipments. 

Night  had  fallen  when  the  regiment  left 
Jeffersonville,  and  all  passed  pleasantly  for  a 
time.  The  men  sung  their  customary  march 
ing  songs  and  the  woods  rang  with  the  cho 
ruses.  With  the  intention  of  making  the  march 
as  easy  as  possible  Colonel  Kimball  halted  the 
column  for  a  rest,  at  the  most  inopportune  time, 
which  proved  to  be  unfortunate.  The  regi 
ment  had  moved  leisurely  out  of  the  village 
towards  camp  and  the  men  had  "  limbered  up  " 
nicely  and  were  in  good  marching  condition 
and  could  have  continued  to  Frederick  in 
fairly  good  shape  with  little  or  no  rest,  but  now 
the  long  halt  which  followed  induced  them 
to  fall  asleep.  When  the  bugle  sounded 
"  forward "  the  boys  were  stiff  and  sore,  and 
slowly  responded  to  the  call. 

There  was  no  more  singing,  no  more  con 
versation  in  the  ranks.  Each  man  felt  fagged 
out,  but  doggedly  plodded  onward  over  the 
apparently  endless  road  having  no  further  desire 
for  even  a  temporary  rest.  The  only  wish  or 
thought  was  how  to  get  through  and  reach  the 
objective  point  in  the  shortest  time  possible, 


THE  START  FOR  SOUTH  MOUNTAIN.        269 

knowing  there  would  then  be  an  opportunity 
to  obtain  the  much  required  sleep.  After  what 
seemed  like  hours  of  marching  the  regiment 
reached  Frederick,  and  proceeded  haltingly 
and  painfully  through  the  silent  and  de 
serted  streets  and  at  last  arrived  at  the  old 
camp.  Throwing  themselves  on  the  hard  earth 
the  tired  men  enjoyed  that  sweet  rest  which  the 
worn  and  footsore  soldier  can  so  well  appreci 
ate.  Orders  had  been  given  to  move  at  3  A.M., 
and  it  seemed  as  though  they  had  scarcely 
rolled  themselves  in  their  blankets  ere  the 
order  came  to  "  fall  in,"  which  was  obeyed  with 
the  greatest  reluctance,  and  without  the  accus 
tomed  promptness.  Passing  out  of  the  city  on 
the  way  to  Fairville  and  Jerusalem,  they  arrived 
at  Middletown  at  about  10  A.M.  There  the 
"  Ninth"  came  to  a  halt  after  a  rapid  march  of 
seven  hours.  Every  appearance  tended  to  im 
press  the  observer  with  the  belief  that  a  battle 
was  near.  The  regiment,  which  had  evidently 
been  started  prematurely  in  the  early  morning, 
was  marched  into  a  field  by  the  roadside  with 
orders  to  uhalt"  and  "rest."  All  felt  that  they 
were  only  waiting  their  turn  to  "  go  in  "  as  the 
cannonading  in  front  of  them  was  increasing 
every  moment.  Brigades,  divisions  and  corps 
which  probably  had  remained  in  bivouac  until 
after  daybreak,  streamed  past  to  the  front,  while 


27O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

the  Ninth  waited  by  the  roadside.  It  was 
evidently  clear  that  their  corps  was  not  to  be 
utilized  until  these  other  troops  should  reach 
their  positions. 

The  battle  of  South  Mountain  had  opened 
and  troops  were  being  hurried  forward  to 
the  front  while  the  Ninth  was  ordered  to 
rest  All  hands  were  soon  sound  asleep,  and 
continued  so  until  2  P.M.,  when,  after  a  cup  of 
good  coffee  they  were  ordered  forward  in  the 
direction  of  the  firing  which  had  become  ex 
ceedingly  brisk.  Fording  a  small  stream  at  the 
foot  of  South  Mountain  they  filed  into  a 
narrow  and  rocky  road  leading  to  the  summit, 
and  while  passing  up  the  steep  ascent  met  a 
stream  of  wounded  men  being  transported 
rapidly  to  the  rear.  Working  their  way  steadily 
up  the  mountain  and  also  moving  obliquely  to 
the  left  to  extend  the  line  in  that  direction,  they 
met  with  little  opposition  until  nearing  the 
position  assigned  them,  when  suddenly  a  rebel 
battery  opened  fire  most  vigorously.  This 
did  not  check  them  in  the  least  or  cause  any 
damage,  the  battery  being  situated  so  far  above 
them  on  the  top  of  the  mountain  that  the  enemy 
was  unable  to  depress  his  guns  to  any  marked 
degree  but  was  obliged  to  fire  straight  ahead 
out  into  the  "wide  world,"  the  shells  exploding 
so  far  above  the  regiment  that  few  casualties 


REPULSING  A  CHARGE.  271 

resulted.  The  firing  ceased  shortly  after  and 
the  position  was  gained  without  further  oppo 
sition. 

This  cessation  it  was  afterward  learned  was 
due  to  a  charge  made  by  an  Ohio  Brigade  (the 
nth,  I2th,  and  23d  Regiments),  which  com 
pelled  the  battery  to  limber  up  and  hastily 
withdraw  and  also  temporarily  clearing  that  part 
of  the  line  of  the  rebel  infantry. 

Battery  E,  4th  U.  S.  Artillery,  occupied  the 
position  vacated  by  the  rebel  battery,  and  the 
"  Ninth"  moved  into  line  to  its  support. 

Being  on  the  extreme  left  of  the  army,  the 
brigade  was  formed  like  the  letter  L,  the  Ninth 
being  the  base  line,  while  the  iO3d  and  8gth  New 
York  were  formed  at  right  angles  to  it,  extend 
ing  toward  the  rear.  The  battery  faced  down 
the  line  towards  the  left.  The  Ninth  and 
iO3d,  with  about  two  companies  of  the  Sgth, 
had  arrived  on  the  line  when  the  enemy,  who 
were  concealed  in  a  close  thicket  of  laurel  on 
the  west  slope  of  the  mountain,  suddenly  dashed 
from  their  cover,  and  made  an  impetuous 
charge  on  the  battery,  yelling  and  discharging 
their  muskets  as  soon  as  the  forces  were 
sighted.  Without  hesitation  Colonel  Kimball 
gave  the  order:  "Right  wing,  attention !  Fix 
bayonets!  By  the  right  flank  by  file  left,  double 
quick.  March !"  and  led  the  way  through 


272    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

and  between  guns  and  limbers  into  the  thick 
brush  on  the  right  of  the  battery  beyond  the 
view  of  the  remainder  of  the  regiment,  to  a 
position  where  he  could  strike  the  flank  of  the 
charging  rebels.  Meanwhile  the  battery  was 
firing  double  charges  of  canister  at  point  blank 
range,  the  enemy  being  so  close  that  it  was 
unnecessary  to  aim  but  simply  point  the  guns 
after  each  discharge.  The  iO3d  after  a  mo 
mentary  unsteadiness,  stood  up  to  the  work 
like  good  fellows,  firing  volley  after  volley, 
while  the  two  companies  of  the  8gth  opened  a 
steady,  well-directed  fire,  the  other  companies 
joining  in  as  each  arrived  on  the  line,  the  entire 
movement  being  as  coolly  and  methodically 
performed  as  though  on  drill  in  winter  camp. 

At  this  point  an  incident  occurred  which  will 
illustrate  the  coolness  under  fire  of  Major 
Jardine  who  temporarily  commanded  the  8gth 
New  York. 

Shortly  after  the  Ninth  relieved  the  Ohio 
Brigade  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  the 
left  of  the  regiment  being  close  to  the  battery, 
and  the  8gth  following  by  the  flank  up  the 
steep  ascent,  the  sudden  and  unexpected  dash 
of  the  enemy  was  so  unlocked  for  that  for  an 
instant  there  was  a  halt  in  that  part  of  the  8pth 
not  yet  on  the  line,  when  Major  Jardine  sprang 
upon  a  stone  wall  on  the  left  of  the  Ninth  and 


JARDIN&S  COOLNESS  UNDER  FIRE.  273 

running  diagonally  toward  it  (the  Sgth)  cried 
out:  "Eighty-ninth  New  York,  what  in  h — 1 
are  you  about?  Continue  the  movement!"  In 
the  meantime  the  battery  men  had  picked 
themselves  up  from  the  grass  and  made  their 
guns  talk  with  grape  and  canister.  Although 
the  regiment  had  orders  not  to  fire  without 
command,  Corporal  Charles  Curie,  of  Company 
C,  acting  sergeant  and  left-general  guide, 
cocked  his  musket  to  await  orders  to  fire,  when 
Jardine,  hearing  the  lock  click,  turned  toward 
him, and  said  to  Curie:  "  Put  down  that  hammer. 
You  know  what  the  orders  are.  We  want  to 
meet  the  charge  with  the  bayonet.  You  ought 
to  be  promoted  for  that." 

Major  Jardine  then  jumped  down  from  the 
wall  and  resumed  command  of  the  Sgth,  which 
he  retained  until  after  the  battle  of  Antietam. 
He  was  subsequently  presented  by  the  officers 
of  that  regiment  with  a  magnificent  gold  medal 
in  appreciation  of  his  meritorious  services 
during  the  campaign. 

For  a  moment  bullets  seemed  to  fill  the  air 
and  matters  assumed  a  serious  aspect,  but  the 
supporting  line  stood  firm  and  poured  in  such 
withering  volleys  that  the  enemy  recoiled  and 
fell  back  suffering  great  loss. 

As  darkness  set  in  the  Ninth  was  detailed 
for  picket  duty,  and  that  night  guarded  the  ex- 


274    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

treme  left  of  the  army.  The  howitzer  battery 
of  Company  K  was  in  reserve,  supported  by 
several  companies  to  enfilade  any  attacking 
party  who  might  attempt  to  surprise  the  picket 
line.  General  Reno's  command  kept  up  a  con 
tinuous  fire  with  the  enemy  in  his  front  for 
some  two  hours  after  dark,  but  on  the  left  all 
was  comparatively  quiet  throughout  the  night. 
Among  the  drummer  boys  who  enlisted  in 
the  regiment  at  its  organization  was  J.  C.  Julius 
Langbein.  Although  but  thirteen  years  of  age 
he  was  bright,  intelligent  and  manly,  but  so 
small  in  stature  and  so  feminine  in  looks  that 
he  could  easily  have  passed  as  a  girl.  He  at 
once  received  the  sobriquet  of  " Jennie"  from 
all  the  men,  which  name  clung  to  him  during 
his  term  of  service  and  for  years  afterward.  It 
may  prove  of  interest  to  here  produce  part  of  a 
letter  written  by  one  of  the  wounded  officers  of 
the  regiment  to  ist  Sergeant  Green,  of  Com 
pany  F,  relating  an  incident  which  occurred 
during  this  battle — Company  F  being  then  de 
tached  from  the  regiment  on  garrison  duty  at 
Plymouth,  N.  C. : 

NEW  YORK,  December  3rd,  1862. 

"Mv  DEAR  JACK:  *  *  *  Now,  Jack  I  must  tell  you  of  my 
experience  with  '  Jennie '  the  drummer,  during  this  fight. 

Just  as  we  were  coining  on  to  the  line  I  noticed  that  he  was  with 
my  company  and  was  keeping  pretty  close  to  me.  There  was  no  firing 
on  our  part  of  the  line  just  at  the  time.  I  noticed  the  boy  particularly 
.as  it  was  such  an  unusual  circumstance  to  see  him  away  from  his  own 
company  that  I  was  obliged  to. 


KEEPING  HIS  EYE  ON  THE  LIEUTENANT.        275 

He  stood  around  while  the  brigade  was  forming  and  when  the 
rebels  burst  out  of  the  woods,  and  we  were  ordered  to  lie  down 
temporarily,  he  squatted  down  right  beside  me.  Of  course,  I  was  all 
alive  to  catch  any  order  that  might  come  from  '  the  old  man,'  but  I  saw 
what  was  going  on  all  the  same. 

About  the  time  the  rebel  yell  began  to  change  its  tone  a  little  and 
their  fire  slackened  up,  Jennie  very  deliberately  straightened  up  and 
looked  all  around  surveying  the  situation.  Saying  to  him  pretty 
sharp,  '  Sit  down  you  d — d  little  fool,  you'll  get  your  head  knocked  off,' 
he  looked  at  me  with  a  kind  of  queer  expression,  hitched  up  his 
trousers  and  with  the  reply,  'that's  what  I  came  here  for,'  walked 
off  towards  the  left  where  most  of  the  firing  was. 

After  the  rebels  had  been  repulsed  and  things  quieted  down,  he 
drifted  back  to  my  vicinity  again.  It  was  getting  quite  dark  by  this 
time,  so  dark  that  we  could  see  the  fire  pour  out  of  the  muzzles  of  the 
guns  and  spatter  like  melted  metal  as  it  struck  the  ground.  As  soon 
as  the  firing  had  entirely  ceased  we  sat  down — tired,  hungry  and 
cold — and  were  exchanging  confidences  in  relation  to  cur  respective 
condition  of  emptiness,  when  one  of  the  sergeants  of  the  battery 
brought  us  something  to  eat  and  also  blankets  to  sleep  under.  After 
eating  and  chatting  for  some  time — Sullivan  his  name  was  ;  E.  of  the 
4th  U.  S.  Artillery — we  rolled  ourselves  in  his  blankets,  and  I,  at  least, 
tried  to  sleep.  All  this  time  the  heaviest  kind  of  a  musketry  fire — the 
heaviest  and  steadiest  I  ever  heard — was  being  kept  up  on  our  right 
where  our  center  was  forcing  its  way  up  the  mountain.  At  that  time 
our  line  was  like  a  bow  with  the  concave  side  toward  the  enemy.  I 
was  in  such  a  condition  of  nervousness,  owing  to  the  lack  of  grub  and 
the  mental  and  physical  strain  of  the  three  preceding  days,  that  I  could 
not  get  to  sleep  at  once,  but  I  tried  to  rest  and  lay  quiet  so  as  not  to 
disturb  'Jennie'  should  he  be  asleep. 

After  lying  quietly  for  a  time  he  raised  himself  to  a  sitting  posi 
tion  and  after  appearing  to  listen  to  the  musketry  for  a  while,  said 
quietly:  'Are  you  asleep,  Lieutenant?'  I  answered  that  I  was  not 
asleep;  '  That's  an  awful  heavy  fire,  Lieutenant,'  he  said,  '  but  I  think 
the  boys  are  driving  them.  It  appears  to  be  coming  up  the  hill.'  Then 
he  heaved  a  deep  sigh  and  lay  down.  He  repeated  this  performance 
several  times  before  I  dropped  off  to  sleep.  In  the  morning  he  rolled 
up  the  blankets,  took  them  over  to  the  sergeant,  and  I  suppose  went 
to  his  company,  as  I  saw  him  only  once  again  during  the  day,  when  he 
came  to  tell  me  that  the  '  mess  '  had  something  to  eat  and  that  I  had 
better  get  up  toward  the  right  where  it  was  or  it  would  be  all  gone. 

Now  Jack,  I  would  like  to  know  what  you  think  of  that  for  a  fourteen 
year  old  drummer  boy.  I  thought  the  thing  over  a  good  deal  after  I 
was  wounded  and  I  had  nothing  else  to  do  but  think,  and  I  honestly 
think  that  boy  believed  it  his  duty,  inasmuch  as  I  was  only  a  second 


276   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

lieutenant  and  was  for  the  first  time  in  command  of  a  company  in 
action,  to  keep  his  eye  on  me  and  see  that  I  did  not  go  wrong  or  do 
anything  to  bring  discredit  on  the  regiment.  He  was  apparently 
satisfied  with  the  way  I  behaved  myself  during  the  fight  and  went 
back  to  his  own  company  with  the  consciousness  that  he  could  trust  me 
to  do  what  was  right. 

In  my  next  I  will  tell  you  something  about  the  big  battle,  Antietam. 

Remember  me  to  Captain  Flusser  and  also  to  Captain  Hammill  and 
Lieutenant  Perley. 

Yours  sincerely, " 

The  next  day  the  Ninth  was  relieved  and 
placed  in  reserve  for  a  much  needed  rest.  There 
were  no  rations  obtainable,  the  wagon  trains 
were  not  permitted  to  come  forward  among  the 
moving  troops  on  the  roads  and  the  men  were 
forced  to  forage  in  the  potato  and  cornfields, 
which  had  previously  been  visited  by  the  rebels, 
consequently  the  supply  obtained  from  these 
sources  was  decidedly  slim. 

About  5  P.M.,  on  the  I5th,  the  regiment  was 
ordered  forward,  and  before  moving  down  the 
western  slope  of  the  mountain  came  upon  the 
scene  of  the  previous  day's  heaviest  fighting. 
The  result  of  battle  was  here  visible  in  all  its 
ghastly  horror. 

The  enemy's  dead  were  so  numerous  that  at 
one  point --a  sunken  road  where  they  had 
made  a  determined  stand  -  -  their  bodies  had  to 
be  removed  from  the  road  to  make  a  passage 
way  for  the  troops.  They  were  piled  in  heaps 
on  either  side.  Their  limbs  contorted  and 
their  faces  black  as  negroes,  presenting  a  most 


DEATH  OF  GENERAL  RENO.  277 

horrible  sight.  It  was  near  here  about  sunset 
that  the  lamented  Reno  lost  his  life  while 
supervising  his  lines.  He  was  in  all  respects 
a  most  admirable  officer  and  his  untimely  de 
cease  was  regretted  by  the  entire  army. 

There  seems  to  be  some  uncertainty  as  to 
the  manner  of  his  death,  some  persons  assert 
ing  that  he  was  picked  off  by  a  rebel  sharp 
shooter,  while  at  the  present  date  (1899)  others 
as  positively  assert  that  he  met  his  death  in  a 
manner  similar  to  that  of  "  Stonewall  "  Jackson 
-  was  mortally  wounded  by  his  own  men.  In 
the  gathering  darkness,  and  being  at  the  ex 
treme  front  to  assure  himself  that  his  lines  were 
correct,  he  is  said  to  have  been  mistaken  for  an 
enemy.  To  signify  the  high  estimation  in 
which  the  General  was  held  by  his  superiors,  we 
quote  a  well  deserved  tribute  to  his  memory,  in 
an  article  on  "The  Second  Bull  Run,"  written 
by  Major-General  Pope  for  the  Century  Maga 
zine: 

"  I  rode  along  the  front  of  our  line,  and  gave  the  same  information 
to  Heintzleman  and  Reno.  I  shall  not  soon  forget  the  bright  and  con 
fident  face  and  the  alert  and  hearty  manner  of  that  most  accomplished 
and  loyal  soldier,  Gen.  J.  L.  Reno.  From  first  to  last  in  this  campaign 
he  was  always  cheerful  and  ready  ;  anxious  to  anticipate,  if  possible, 
and  prompt  to  execute  \vith  all  his  might  the  orders  received. 

"  He  was  short  in  stature  and  upright  in  person,  and  with  a  face  and 
manner  so  bright  and  engaging  at  all  times,  but  most  especially 
noticeable  in  the  fury  of  battle,  that  it  was  both  a  pleasure  and  a  com 
fort  to  see  him.  In  his  death,  two  weeks  afterward,  during  the  battle 
of  South  Mountain,  when  he  led  his  troops  with  his  usual  gallantry 
and  daring,  the  Government  lost  one  of  its  best  and  most  promising 


278    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

officers.  Had  he  lived  to  see  the  end  of  the  war,  he  would  undoubt 
edly  have  attained  one  of  the  highest,  if  not  the  very  highest  position 
in  the  army. 

"  His  superior  abilities  were  unquestioned,  and  if  he  lacked  one 
single  element  that  goes  to  make  a  perfect  soldier,  certainly  it  was  not 
discovered  before  his  death." 

General  Cox  in  his  report,  says  : 

"  A  'little  before  sunset  Reno  came  up  in  person,  anxious  to  know 
why  the  right  could  not  get  forward  quite  to  the  summit.  After  a  few 
moments'  conversation  with  me  he  passed  on  to  Sturgis.  It  seemed 
to  me  he|was  hardly  gone  before  he  was  brought  back  upon  a  stretcher, 
dead.  He  had  gone  to  the  skirmish  line  to  examine  for  himself  the 
situation  there,  and  had  been  shot  down  by  the  enemy  posted  among 
the  rocks  and  trees." 

The  gth  Corps  followed  hotly  on  the  rear 
of  the  flying  enemy,  crossing  Little  Antietam 
Creek  near  Keedysville,  and  fording  another 
small  stream  near  Locust  Spring. 

It  was  now  nearly  1 1  o'clock,  and  the  men 
were  thoroughly  exhausted  by  the  severe 
marches  of  the  past  week,  and  were  delighted 
to  hear  the  command  "Halt!"  given  for  the 
night.  Stopping  at  the  foot  of  Red  Hill,  they 
threw  themselves  on  the  ground,  too  fatigued 
to  put  up  any  shelter,  and  awaited  the  forth 
coming  of  rations,  but  were  again  disappointed, 
as  no  wagons  could  be  found,  and  they  passed 
another  night  nearly  famished. 

About  8  A.M.,  of  the  i6th,  the  rebels  opened 
their  batteries  upon  the  Union  forces,  who  re 
plied  spiritedly  until  u  o'clock,  when  the 
enemy  retired. 

The  position  of  the  bivouac  occupied  by  the 


GETTING  INTO  LINE  OF  BATTLE.  279 

Division,  appeared  to  be  in  the  rear  of  Hooker 
and  the  rest  of  the  right  wing  of  the  army.  At 
frequent  intervals  during  the  greater  portion  of 
the  day  the  latter  were  hotly  engaged  with  the 
enemy. 

At  5  P.M.,  the  regiment  was  ordered  forward, 
and  reaching  the  line  of  battle  already  forming 
in  front  of  the  enemy,  were  moved  by  General 
Rodman  to  the  left,  and  soon  after  dark  arrived 
at  the  extreme  left  of  the  army. 

The  night  was  very  dark,  and  the  flank  was 
still  further  extended  by  a  staff  officer,  the 
greatest  caution  being  observed  as  they  ad 
vanced — absolute  silence  being  preserved — the 
other  regiments  of  the  brigade  moving  in  a 
similar  manner,  but  more  to  the  rear,  forming  a 
kind  of  echelon  by  the  flank  on  the  "  Ninth." 
While  passing  through  a  cornfield  the  heavy 
tramp  of  men  was  heard  coming  down  the  hill 
to  the  left  of  the  Ninth,  and  they  prepared  to 
meet  the  enemy. 

"  Fix  bayonets  !  "  commanded  Kimball.  It 
was  instantly  executed,  and  the  men  firmly 
faced  the  expected  attack,  while  General  Rod 
man  rushed  forward  to  assume  charge  of  the 
threatened  assault.  The  command  "  Halt !  " 
was  several  times  repeated  and  heard  above 
the  noise  made  by  the  approach  of  the  sup 
posed  enemy,  then  all  became  quiet.  A  few 
paces  distant  the  Zouaves  were  met  by  the 


280  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

1 03rd  New  York,  who,  if  they  had  continued  to 
advance  a  moment  longer  would  have  received 
a  volley  from  the  regiment,  and  a  terrible 
slaughter  would  have  resulted.  The  Zouaves 
again  moved  ahead,  a  detail  from  Company  B 
feeling  the  ground  in  advance,  and  on  reaching 
the  position  selected,  halted  and  lay  down. 
The  battery  of  Company  K  was  divided — three 
guns,  under  command  of  Captain  Whiting, 
being  placed  on  the  right  of  the  brigade,  the  re 
maining  ones  on  the  left,  under  Lieutenant 
Morris.  The  orders  to  Captain  Whiting  were, 
if  attacked  by  infantry  to  open  fire  at  once,  but 
if  by  artillery  only,  to  remain  silent. 

The  brigade  was  still  on  the  extreme  left  of 
the  army,  and,  from  the  nature  of  the  ground 
and  the  conditions  under  which  the  dispositions 
for  battle  were  made,  was  the  last  one  to  arrive 
at  its  designated  position  in  the  line;  conse 
quently  it  was  long  after  dark  before  its  march 
ings,  manoeuvres  and  changes  of  positions  came 
to  an  end,  and  the  tired  men  were  permitted  to 
lie  down  and  seek  what  rest  was  possible  to 
prepare  them  for  the  pending  battle  of  the 
morrow. 

The  subsequent  events  of  "  the  bloodiest 
battle  of  the  war  "  can  best  be  described  by 
quoting  a  letter  written  to  Colonel  Hawkins,  at 
his  request,  by  Lieut.  Matthew  J.  Graham,  on 
September  2yth,  1894. 


CHAPTER  X. 

LIEUTENANT  GRAHAM'S  LETTER  DESCRIPTIVE  OF  THE 
BATTLE  OF  ANTIETAM  —  ATTACK  ON  THE  STONE 
WALL  —  GREAT  BRAVERY  OF  THE  TROOPS  —  OR 
DERED  TO  RETIRE  AND  LIEUTENANT-COLONEL 
KIMBALL'S  PROTEST  — GENERAL  WILCOX  IN  PERSON 
PEREMPTORILY  ORDERS  KIMBALL  TO  FALL  BACK 
—  ASSISTANCE  TO  THE  WOUNDED  —  McCLELLAN'S, 
BURNSIDE'S,  FAIRCHILD'S,  AND  KIMBALL'S  RE 
PORTS  —  MR.  KIRKLEY'S  STATEMENTS  OF  TOTAL 
KILLED  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR,  AND  PROPORTION  OF 
WOUNDED  TO  KILLED  —  GENERAL  LONGSTREET'S 
COMMENTS  ON  THE  BATTLE  AND  COMPARISON 
WITH  OTHER  NOTABLE  ENGAGEMENTS  — PERCENT 
AGE  OF  REGIMENTAL  AND  BRIGADE  LOSS  OF  THE 
NINTH  REGIMENT. 

NEW  YORK,  September  27,  1894. 
COLONEL  RUSH  C.  HAWKINS. 

MY  DEAR  COLONEL:  —  In  response  to  your 
suggestion  offered  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Association  on  the  24th  inst,  I  will  try  to  write 
down  my   recollections    of  the  movements  of, 
and  the  various  positions  occupied  by  our  regi 
ment,  the  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers  (Haw- 
kins'  Zouaves),  just   prior   to,  and    during  the 
Battle  of  Antietam,  on  the  night  of  the    i6th 
and  the  day  of  the   iyth  of  September,  1862. 
Thirty-two  years  is  a  long  time  to  look  back. 


282    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Particularly  is  this  so  if  one  indulges  in  reminis 
cences  which  require  the  element  of  accuracy. 
But  I  think  it  will  not  be  necessary  for  me  to  try 
to  recall  any  of  the  principal  happenings  of  that 
time;  —  of  that  day  particularly.  What  I  write 
will  be,  I  think,  merely  a  statement  of  what  I 
saw  on  the  evening  preceding,  and  on  the  day 
of  the  battle; — incidents  which  were  impressed 
on  my  mind  then,  and  which  have  been  vividly 
in  view  of  my  memory  ever  since.  In  doing 
this  I  may  fall  into  error;  I  may  transpose 
actions  and  incidents ;  but  I  shall  strive  to  avoid 
these,  giving  due  consideration  to  the  fact  that 
when  talking  over  these  matters  with  other 
members  of  the  regiment,  I  frequently  find  that 
their  recollections  and  mine  do  not  always 
agree. 

The  last  movement  which  the  regiment  made 
on  the  evening  of  the  i6th  toward  the  perfecting 
of  the  line  of  battle,  was  after  dark — in  almost 
absolute  darkness.  The  sky  was  cloudy,  and 
the  air  charged  with  moisture — a  heavy  mist, 
or,  more  properly,  a  light  drizzle — not  fog.  We 
were  extending  the  line  toward  the  left.  It 
was  too  dark  to  see  either  one's  comrades,  the 
bushes  through  which  we  forced  our  way,  or 
the  stumps  and  inequalities  of  the  ground  over 
which  we  stumbled.  The  movement  completed, 
we  halted  and  lay  down,  as  we  had  stood,  in 
line. 


THE  POSITION  AS  SEEN  A  T  DA  YBREAK.         283 

Only  a  short  time  before  this  I  had  appeased 
my  hunger  with  a  conglomeration  of  stuff,  the 
chief  ingredient  of  which  was  green  f corn  —  a 
tomato  can  nearly  full  of  it" — which  had  been 
prepared  and  given  me  by  Dick  Rivers  (who 
has  since  gone  to  his  reward),  and  conse 
quently,  or  otherwise,  I  slept  the  sleep  of  the 
just.  I  was  awakened  in  the  morning  at  early 
daylight  by  one  of  the  sergeants,  who  informed 
me  that  the  enemy  were  about  to  open  fire 
on  us. 

Upon  looking  about  me  I  found  we  were  in 
a  cornfield,  the  ground  behind  us  rising  gradu 
ally  until  it  formed  a  considerable  ridge.  It 
was  timbered,  but  not  thickly,  from  within  a 
few  paces  in  rear  of  our  line  back  as  far  as  I 
could  see  from  our  position.  The  field  sloped 
very  gradually  from  our  front  until  it  ended  in 
bushes,  and  in  what  appeared  to  be  swampy 
ground ;  beyond  that  toward  the  front  the  hills 
were  quite  high  and  appeared  to  be  very  steep 
and  bluffy. 

I  do  not  know  of  a  person  now  living  who 
could  give  a  better  description  of  the  ground 
where  we  bivouacked  than  Lieutenant  Horner. 
He  was  officer  of  the  guard  that  night,  and, 
therefore,  had  better  facilities  for  observing 
than  any  of  us ;  and  this  is  equally  true  con 
cerning  our  movements  on  the  day  of  the 


284   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

battle.  Circumstances  made  it  necessary  to 
detail  him  as  acting  adjutant,  but  while  he  had 
an  excellent  chance  to  observe  the  nature  of  the 
ground,  I  think  he  had  neither  the  time  nor  the 
inclination  to  dwell  much  on  the  beauties  of 
nature.  The  ground  over  which  the  regiment 
advanced  that  day  was  not  a  path  of  roses. 

There  was  considerable  activity  among  some 
men  in  grey  on  the  top  of  one  of  the  hills  in 
our  front.  They  were  apparently  shoveling 
and  leveling  the  ground.  My  impression  \vas 
that  they  were  preparing  a  place  for  their 
battery  to  stand ;  that  they  had  gotten  their 
guns  up  there  and  were  obliged  to  prepare  a 
platform  or  level  space  for  them  so  that  the 
recoil  would  not  force  them  down  the  hill. 

On  our  right  also  the  hills  were  quite  abrupt. 
One  spur  wrhich  attracted  my  notice  was  thrust 
boldly  and  precipitously  out  into  the  low  land. 
On  our  left  the  land  was  considerably  elevated, 
but  the  hills  were  not  so  steep.  Down  in  the 
swamp,  or  what  I  thought  was  a  swamp,  there 
was  a  little  scattering  picket  firing.  From  the 
general  appearance  of  the  ground  in  our  imme 
diate  front  I  was  sure  there  was  a  stream  near, 
but  did  not  suppose  for  a  moment  that  it  was 
between  us  and  the  hill  from  wThich  the  enemy 
were  preparing  to  open  fire  on  us.  The  ground 
in  our  front  looked  to  be  impassable  by  reason 


THE  ENEMY  OPENS  FIRE.  286 

of  its  apparent  swampy  nature.  It  did  not 
occur  to  me  that  the  Antietam  was  no  near, 
and  I  am  still  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the 
men  in  grey  with  the  battery  were  on  our  side 
of  the  creek.  They  finally  got  their  guns  fixed 
to  their  satisfaction  and  fired  one  shell  as  a 
trier.  It  struck  and  exploded  in  the  spur  on 
our  right  front  which  I  mentioned  above.  This 
spur  may  have  covered  our  right  wing.  When 
the  shell  exploded  there  was  a  general  laugh 
along  my  part  of  the  line  at  the  bad  shot. 
Another  shot  followed  in  a  moment  or  two 
which  was  better,  but  still  did  no  damage.  A 
third  shot  was  right — the  pieces  falling  right 
among  us.  When  the  men  in  grey  saw  the 
effect  of  this  shot  they  opened  fire  in  such  a 
furious  style  as  to  give  the  impression  that  they 
had  a  dozen  guns  there,  and  every  shell  seemed 
to  land  in  or  near  our  line.  At  this  time  the 
regiment  had  not  been  called  to  attention.  The 
men  formed  in  line  instinctively  and.  awaited 
orders.  Colonel  Kimball  came  up  from  the 
left,  followed  by  Captain  Barnett.  The  Colonel 
gave  the  command  :  "  By  the  right  of  companies 
to  the  rear!" 

Some  of  the  men  with  whom  I  have  talked 
about  that  particular  movement  insist  that  we 
were  then  in  the  line  faced  to  the  rear.  I  re 
membered  that  on  the  previous  evening  we 


286  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

extended  our  line  to  the  left.  In  the  morning 
we  faced  toward  the  place  where  the  enemy 
should  be — that  is,  faced  to  the  right  from  the 
direction  we  had  been  marching  the  night  be 
fore.  At  the  above  command  I  put  myself  on 
the  right  of  my  company,  where  I  found  Ser 
geant  Forbes,  and  broke  by  files  to  the  rear. 
While  moving  to  the  rear,  perpendicular  to  our 
line  of  battle,  I  spoke  to  Captain  Childs,  who 
was  toward  my  right,  to  the  right  of  my  com 
pany  as  I  was  then  moving,  and  who  was 
leaning  against  a  tree,  wounded.  I  said  to 
him  :  "  Get  on  the  other  side  of  the  tree,  Cap 
tain  ;  get  to  leeward."  My  company  was  be 
tween  "E"  and  "G"  that  day;  Libaire  on  my 
right  and  Childs  on  my  left.  At  the  same  time 
I  remember  that  Captain  Barnett  came  from 
toward  the  left  of  the  regiment — the  then  left. 
He  commanded  the  company  on  the  right 
flank  of  the  regiment.  Also,  that  when  we 
made  our  next  forward  movement  we  were 
followed  by  the  iO3d;  not  preceded  by  them. 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  we  were  a  little 
mixed  as  to  formation. 

At  the  command  march  we  moved  directly 
to  the  rear  into  the  woods,  up  the  slope  of  the 
ridge,  and  after  we  had  passed  out  of  sight  of 
the  enemy,  they  did  not  appear  to  be  able  to 
find  us  with  their  shells,  and  after  a  few 
moments  they  ceased  firing. 


EXTENDING  THE  LINE  TOWARD  THE  LEFT.     287 

A  number  of  our  men  were  hit  before  and 
during  the  execution  of  this  crawfish  move 
ment,  but  the  exact  number  I  do  not  know. 
We  had  coffee  there  on  the  ridge  in  the  woods. 
There  were  some  farm  out-buildings  and  a 
barnyard  there  but  I  do  not  remember  that 
there  was  a  dwelling  house.  We  shortly  after 
word  moved  forward,  out  of  the  woods,  on  to 
an  open  grassy  slope,  starting  in  a  direction  as 
though  to  continue  our  line  to  the  left,  but 
gradually  swinging  around  toward  the  right, 
until  at  last  we  were  moving  in  a  direction 
perpendicular  to  our  line  of  battle  of  the  fnorn- 
ing.  This  movement  was  made  in  echelon  by 
companies  or  divisions,  the  iO3d  following  us, 
Kimball  and  Ringold  riding  together  part  of 
the  way  in  front  of  our  regiment.  While 
moving  across  this  sloping  meadow  we  passed 
our  battery,  or  a  part  of  it.  They  were  "in 
battery  "  farther  to  our  left,  and  were  occasion 
ally  firing  a  shot.  They  moved  off  further 
to  our  left  as  we  went  forward,  and  again 
went  "  in  action,"  still  in  plain  sight.  I  do  not 
recall  seeing  either  Whiting  or  Morris  with  the 
battery.  I  saw  only  Shields,  and  I  think  that 
is  why  I  had  the  impression  that  I  saw  only 
part  of  it.  * 

*On  the  night  before  the  battle  the  battery  had  been  divided,  part  of 
it  being  placed  on  the  right  of  the  brigade  and  the  remainder  on  the 
left. 


288   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

We  ended  our  forward  movement  right  at 
the  edge  of  the  bluff,  the  creek  being  below 
some  distance,  and  the  face  of  the  bluff  being 
very  steep.  The  ground  was  high  enough  to 
give  us  an  extensive  view  of  a  stretch  of 
country  toward  our  front  and  right,  including 
much  of  the  battlefield.  I  could  see  no  lines  or 
masses  of  troops  anywhere;  some  of  the  rebel 
batteries,  however,  were  in  full  view  in  front  of 
us  and  on  our  right.  Farther  toward  our  right, 
above  the  bushes  and  over  the  cornfields,  we 
could  see  the  light  musketry  smoke  drifting, 
which' seemed  to  indicate  heavy  infantry  fighting 
there.  The  air  was  very  still,  and  great  piles 
of  white  smoke,  like  clouds,  hung  over  and 
around  the  batteries,  both  the  enemy's  and  our 
own.  We  occasionally  saw  groups  of  men, 
officers  we  took  them  to  be,  both  mounted  and 
on  foot,  moving  about  on  the  other  side  of  the 
creek.  Once  a  skirmish  line  appeared  moving 
directly  toward  the  stream,  our  battery  fired 
one  shot  at  them  and  they  disappeared — into 
the  earth,  it  seemed,  as  I  did  not  see  them 
afterward. 

General  Rodman  joined  us  here. 

I  had  a  glass  and  noted  everything  carefully 
which  took  place  within  my  circle  of  vision. 
While  we  stood  here  the  movement  on  the 
bridge  was  made,  I  think  by  our  second  divi- 


THE  CHARGE  ON  THE  BRIDGE.        289 

sion.  I  could  not  see  it  all,  as  the  country 
was  timbered  in  places,  which  hid  the  move 
ments  of  the  troops.  I  don't  remember  seeing 
the  bridge  at  all.  I  saw  the  troops  moving 
down  the  hill ;  saw  them  once  or  twice  break 
up  and  scatter  and  reform  again  and  advance 
but  did  not  know  just  what  was  going  on  until 
I  noticed  that  some  of  the  figures  on  the  ground, 
who  did  not  scatter  with  the  rest,  were  lying 
with  their  heads  down  hill.  I  then  realized 
that  they  were  dead,  and  that  the  movements 
which  I  had  been  watching  were  charges.  All 
this  time,  while  we  were  standing  on  the  bluff, 
we  were  not  disturbed.  We  stood  up  in  line 
of  battle ;  there  was  no  hostile  demonstration 
whatever  made  against  us;  not  a  shot  of  any 
kind  was  fired  at  us;  there  were  "  none  to 
molest  us  or  make  us  afraid." 

Then  came  the  crossing  of  the  creek.  We 
marched  by  the  left  flank  down  what  appeared 
to  be  an  old  wood-road,  and  filed  to  the  right 
at  the  edge  of  the  stream.  I  do  not  remember 
how  deep  it  was,  but  it  was  quite  an  effort  to 
stem  the  current.  When  partly  across  we  re 
ceived  the  fire  of  a  detachment  which  was 
stationed  behind  a  wall  at  the  head  of  a  ravine 
which  opened  up  from  the  water  towards  our 
left  front.  I  judge  there  were  about  two  com 
panies  of  infantry  of  them.  Their  fire  was  not 


29O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS, 

very  heavy,  rather  scattering,  and  we  did  not 
answer  it.  One  reason  was  that  we  would 
have  to  stop  in  the  stream  while  firing,  and  any 
of  our  men  who  might  be  wounded  would  be 
in  great  danger  of  drowning,  so  we  urged  the 
men  forward  and  passed  the  order  not  to  fire. 
I  had  two  men  hit  here. 

We  filed  to  the  right  when  we  reached  the 
bank,  and  were  at  once  out  of  the  fire  in  the 
shelter  of  the  hills  or  bluffs.  We  then  faced  to 
the  left,  which  brought  us  by  the  rear  rank  into 
line,  and  marched,  or  rather  climbed,  directly 
up  the  bluff;  the  ground  in  front  of  my  com 
pany  was  very  rough  and  difficult  and  also 
very  steep.  Rodman  appeared  here  again  on 
foot  and  went  up  with  the  regiment.  At  the 
top  of  the  hill  we  again  came  in  sight  of  the 
gentlemen  who  disputed  our  crossing  the  ford, 
but  they  were  not  having  things  so  much  their 
own  way  as  they  had  then.  A  party  of  our 
troops  -  - 1  got  the  impression  that  they  were 
Rhode  Island  men  -  -  were  advancing  rapidly 
up  the  ravine,  firing  as  they  went.  They  were 
led  by  a  mounted  officer,  whom  I  recognized  as 
•"  Happy "  Tom  Lyon,  a  major  of  a  defunct 
rocket  battery.  He  was  then  serving  on  Burn- 
side's  staff.  While  our  men  were  advancing 
determinedly  and  rapidly  the  Johnnies  did  not 
seem  to  keep  up  as  good  a  fire  as  they  should 


COMPLETING  THE  MOVEMENT.  291 

have  done  ;  in  fact,  as  I  looked  at  them,  just  for 
the  moment,  Burn's  lines  came  into  my  mind  : 

' '  Their  boldest  thought  's  a  hankerin'  swither 

To  stan'  or  rin." 

Lyon  was  doing  the  military  picture  act  in  the 
most  approved  fashion.  I  concluded  that  his 
horse  had  been  wounded,  it  was  plunging  so. 

We  lay  down  here  and  waited  for  the  new 
formation  to  be  completed.  The  bridge  had 
evidently  been  carried  by  this  time,  as  the 
troops  were  pouring  across,  some  of  them 
passing  along  our  rear  and  extending  the  line 
to  the  left.  We  changed  position  once  or  twice 
as  the  movement  approached  completion,  the 
fire  of  the  enemy's  batteries  becoming  heavier 
and  heavier,  until  finally  we  had  to  lie  very 
close. 

The  general  level  of  the  fields  from  the  bank 
of  the  creek  was  reached  by  a  succession  of 
terraces  or  benches --say  two  or  three.  The 
first  rise  from  the  stream  might  have  been  fifty 
feet  or  more ;  then,  on  my  part  of  the  line, 
came  a  level  space  a  few  yards  wide  ;  then  a 
rise  of  a  few  feet,  not  over  ten  ;  then  a  wide 
level  space,  a  hundred  paces  at  least ;  then 
another  rise,  quite  steep  in  places,  and  high 
enough  to  elevate  us  as  we  lay  in  line  far  above 
the  heads  of  the  mounted  officers  who  were 
grouped  on  the  next  level  below  us.  We  lay 


292    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

as  near  the  top  of  the  slope  as  we  could  with 
out  actually  being  on  the  level  ground.  On 
our  line,  between  us  and  the  iO3d,  a  battery 
was  in  action.  It  was  reported  along  the  line, 
though  I  do  not  know  on  what  authority,  that 
it  was  Clark's  Battery  "  E,"  of  the  4th  U.  S. 
Artillery.  They  did  not  appear  to  be  able  to 
do  much  in  the  way  of  firing,  as  it  seemed  to 
me  that  every  time  they  would  get  fairly  at 
work  the  rebels  would  concentrate  such  a  fire 
on  them  as  to  silence  them ;  and  the  men 
would  be  obliged  to  lie  down  in  such  shelter 
as  they  could  get  until  the  weight  of  the 
enemy's  fire  was  directed  to  another  part  of 
the  line.  Their  "  park "  was  on  this  lower 
level  before  mentioned,  and  almost  in  line 
with,  and  in  rear  of,  the  guns,  and  it  caught  a 
good  deal  of  the  fire  that  missed  the  battery. 
The  practice  of  the  rebel  artillerymen  was 
something  wonderful  in  its  accuracy;  they 
dropped  shot  and  shell  right  into  our  line  re 
peatedly.  They  kept  the  air  fairly  filled  with 
missiles  of  almost  every  variety,  from  shrapnel 
to  railroad  iron.  The  shrapnel  or  canister  was 
very  much  in  evidence.  I  saw  one  of  our  men 
in  hospital  afterward  who  had  nine  gunshot 
wounds  in  his  right  arm.  I  watched  solid  shot 
-round  shot  —  strike  in  front  of  the  guns  with 
what  sounded  like  an  innocent  thud,  and, 


A  HEAVY  FIRE.  293 

bounding  over  battery  and  park,  fly  through 
the  tree  tops,  cutting  some  of  them  off  so  sud 
denly  that  it  seemed  to  me  they  lingered  for  an 
instant  undecided  which  way  to  fall.  These 
round  shot  did  not  appear  to  be  in  a  hurry. 
They  came  along  slowly  and  deliberately,  ap 
parently,  and  there  appeared  no  harm  in  them 
until  they  hit  something. 

As  soon  as  our  line  was  established  Colonel 
Kimball  ordered  Company  I  out  as  skirmishers. 
They  seemed  to  be  pretty  busy  for  a  time, 
judging  from  the  amount  of  shouting  and  firing 
in  the  field  in  front  of  the  regiment  where  they 
deployed.  This,  however,  died  away  gradually 
as  the  boys  pushed  farther  out  and  drove  the 
enemy's  skirmishers  before  them. 

I  was  lying  on  my  back,  supported  on  my 
elbows,  watching  the  shells  explode  overhead 
and  speculating  as  to  how  long  I  could  hold 
up  my  finger  before  it  would  be  shot  off,  for 
the  very  air  seemed  full  of  bullets,  when  the 
order  to  get  up  was  given.  I  turned  over 
quickly  to  look  at  Colonel  Kimball,  who  had 
given  the  order,  thinking  he  had  become  sud 
denly  insane  ;  never  dreaming  that  he  intended 
to  advance  in  that  fire,  and  firmly  believing 
that  the  regiment  would  not  last  one  minute 
after  the  men  had  got  fairly  on  their  feet.  Sure 
enough,  there  was  Kimball,  looking  all  right. 


294   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

He  repeated  the  order:  "Get  up  the  Ninth!" 
and,  I  thought,  looked  directly  at  me.  We  got 
up  and  went  forward,  passing  at  once  into  a 
cornfield.  The  fence  over  which  my  men  were 
swarming  was  at  that  moment  knocked  down 
by  a  shell.  From  the  cornfield  we  crossed  over 
a  meadow,  then  over  a  strip  of  plowed  land, 
and  then  another  piece  of  grass  or  stubble. 
We  halted  twice,  I  think,  to  rest  and  dress  the 
line,  although  dressing  was  not  necessary  as 
every  man  was  in  his  place.  The  loss  was 
frightful.  I  could  see  the  regiment-- the  line 
—shortening  perceptibly  as  we  advanced.  We 
could  hear  the  crash  of  the  missiles  through  the 
ranks,  and  strange  as  it  may  seem,  that  sound 
brought  like  a  flash  to  my  mind  a  saying  of 
Lannes,  when  describing  the  Battle  of  Auster- 
litz  :  "  I  could  hear  the  bones  crash  in  my  div 
ision  like  glass  in  a  hailstorm." 

The  whole  regiment  behaved  magnificently 
throughout.  Nothing  could  be  better.  The 
advance  was  over  sharp  ridges  and  through  the 
intervening  hollows  for  a  long  way.  Although 
just  then  I  was  not  conscious  of  either  the  lapse 
of  time  or  of  the  distance  we  were  covering,  I 
now  know  that  we  advanced  altogether  about 
a  mile,  and  we  lost  men  at  almost  every  step. 
In  two  or  three  of  the  sheltered  places,  where 
we  were  partly  protected  from  the  enemy's 


KIMBALL^S  PRIDE  IN  THE  REGIMENT.  295 

fire  by  the  ground  in  front,  Colonel  Kimball,  as 
I  said  before,  halted  the  regiment  just  for  a 
moment  to  give  the  men  a  chance  to  get  their 
breath.  During  these  halts  he  always  remained 
erect,  moving  up  and  down  the  line  uttering 
words  of  encouragement  for  everybody.  To 
the  shouts  of  some  of  the  men  of  "  Get  down, 
Colonel !"  "  Don't  expose  yourself  that  way !" 
"Wait  'till  we're  ready  to  advance!"  etc.,  he 
would  reply :  "  Don't  mind  me,  boys,  I'm  all 
right,"  or,  "If  you  want  a  safe  place  stick  close 
to  me,"  or  some  such  remark.  Meantime  he 
was  pacing  up  and  down  the  line  rubbing  his 
palms  together,  and  clapping  his  hands  at 
intervals  to  express  satisfaction,  exclaiming 
repeatedly:  "Bully  Ninth!  Bully  Ninth!  Boys, 
I'm  proud  of  you !  every  one  of  you !"  During 
one  of  these  momentary  halts  I  glanced  back  at 
the  field  we  had  just  crossed  and  saw  it  sprink- 
eled  all  over  with  our  dead  and  wounded,  all 
lying  with  their  heads  toward  the  enemy, 
presenting  the  appearance  of  a  thin  field  of 
cornstalks  I  had  seen  some  place,  all  rolled 
down  to  lie  in  the  same  direction  for  conve 
nience  in  plowing  them  under. 

The  charge  ended,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned, 
in  what  appeared  to  be  a  grand  finale.  We 
had  been  advancing  over  what  I  remember  as 
rolling,  but  at  the  same  time,  rising  ground  ; 


296  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

we  had  reached  what  looked  like  the  summit 
of  this  particular  ridge  when  we  were  met  by 
what  I  remember  as  a  crashing  volley  of  mus 
ketry.  We  all  went  down  together,  although  I 
was  hit  not  with  a  bullet  but  with  a  grapeshot. 
The  fronts  of  the  companies  had  by  that  time 
become  so  narrow  that  I  found  myself  right  at 
the  colors.  They  did  not  average,  I  think, 
above  twelve  or  fifteen  men  each  at  that  stage. 
When  I  recovered  myself  after  I  fell — that  is, 
got  into  position  to  see  about  me,  and  after  the 
men  had  passed  over  me,  some  stumbling  over 
and  others  stepping  on  me,  which  occupied  but 
a  moment,  nearly  everybody  was  down  on  the 
ground.  The  whole  color  guard  lay  prone,  the 
colors  on  the  ground.  One  or  two  of  the  men 
staggered  to  their  feet  and  reached  for  the  flags, 
but  were  shot  down  at  once.  Then  there  was 
what  seemed  a  spontaneous  rush  for  them  by 
a  dozen  or  more  men  from  several  companies, 
who  were  shot  down  in  succession  as  each  one 
raised  his  flag.  One  of  these  whom  I  noticed 
was  Lieutenant  Myers,  who  was  hit  just  as  he 
picked  up  one  of  them.  The  flags  were  up  and 
down,  up  and  down,  several  times  in  a  minute. 
Libaire  at  last  seized  one  of  them,  and  swing 
ing  it  around  his  head  was  profane  for  the  first 
and  only  time,  I  think,  shouting  to  his  com 
pany,  "  Up,  damm  you,  and  forward  ! "  I  could 


NOT  ANXIOUS  TO  ADVANCE,  297 

see  only  toward  the  right  of  the  line  as  I  lay. 
I  saw  four  commissioned  officers  in  front  of  the 
line.  Kimball,  Horner,  Libaire  and  McKechnie, 
all  shouting  forward  as  the  men  sprang  to  their 
feet.  McKechnie  was  on  the  stone  wall  with 
his  fez  on  the  point  of  his  sword  waving  his 
men  on. 

All  this  took  place  in  a  flash,  as  it  seems  to 
me  now,  and  the  next  minute  the  regiment  was 
gone  ;  over  the  wall  and  out  of  sight.  At  that 
time  only  one  non-commissioned  officer  was 
left  in  my  company — Sergeant  Salisbury,  who 
assumed  command'.  He  also  was  wounded 
shortly  afterward.  I  was  picked  up  in  a  few 
moments  and  carried  to  the  rear  by  the  ambu 
lance  corps  men,  who  happened  to  be  of  our 
own  regiment. 

I  have  never  known  in  what  formation  we 
went  forward  on  that  charge ;  whether  only  our 
single  brigade  in  line  or  a  column  of  brigades  ; 
but  after  going  to  the  rear  a  short  distance  we 
met  a  line  of  troops,  a  brigade  apparently,  in  a 
hollow  of  the  ground,  but  not  advancing.  I 
learned  or  guessed,  or  got  the  information  in 
some  way — as  one  gets  it  on  the  field — that 
they  were  part  of  Cox's  men,  Ohio  troops. 
Our  Adjutant  General,  Captain  Shephard 
(Official  John  Shephard),  was  with  them.  He 
had  one  of  their  colors  and  was  trying  to 


298   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

induce  them  to  advance.  I  tried  to  reinforce 
his  efforts  with  a  word  or  two.  I  told  them  the 
fighting  was  all  over;  that  we  had  carried 
everything;  that  they  had  only  to  go  forward 
and  show  themselves  if  they  wished  to  be 
participants  in  the  greatest  victory  of  the  war. 
I  believed  what  I  said,  and  I  pretended  to  be 
cheerful,  but  from  the  way  they  looked  at  me 
I  knew  they  didn't  believe  a  word  of  it. 

While  the  general  direction  in  which  the  men 
carried  me  was  to  the  rear,  still  we  kept  bear 
ing  off  toward  the  left,  our  left — our  backs  you 
will  remember  were  now  turned  to  the  enemy- 
then  following  the  low  ground  to  keep  out  of 
the  fire.  We  had  gone  but  a  short  distance 
when  all  signs  of  battle  disappeared,  except  the 
occasional  singing  of  a  minnie  bullet  overhead  ; 
we  followed  down  the  lowland  and  came  out 
on  the  road  near  the  head  of  the  bridge  with 
out  being  aware  that  we  had  gone  down  any 
sensibly  steep  place  or  places.  After  leaving 
the  ground  which  the  regiment  had  gone  over, 
we  saw  no  dead  or  wounded.  I  spoke  to 
Captain  Barnett,  who  was  tying  up  his  hand, 
where  he  had  been  slightly  wounded.  I  also 
saw  " Jennie"  the  drummer,  sitting  on  the  old 
bobtailed  sorrel,  about  half  way  between  the 
place  where  I  was  wounded  and  the  bridge. 
On  the  road  near  the  bridge  everything  was  as 


CONFUSION  AT  THE  BRIDGE. 

quiet  and  serene  as  a  Sabbath  morning.  Only 
two  or  three  soldiers  were  in  sight;  one  of 
them  a  ygth  man,  was  sauntering  along,  eating 
an  apple  and  carrying  a  stretcher  on  his 
shoulder.  He  was  interviewed  at  once  by  my 
bandits  and  robbed  of  the  stretcher,  for  my 
benefit. 

This  quiet  scene  into  which  we  entered,  on 
the  road  near  the  bridge  was  suddenly  and 
without  any  apparent  reason  changed  into  a 
pandemonium.  Two  or  three  baggage  wagons 
and  more  than  one  battery  of  artillery  appeared 
around  a  turn  of  the  road  retreating  toward  the 
bridge.  At  the  same  time  the  rebels  opened 
fire  with  as  much  vim  and  energy  as  they  had 
shown  earlier  in  the  day.  There  was  a  rush  to 
cross,  each  driver  trying  to  get  ahead  of  all  the 
others.  They  became  jammed  on  the  bridge. 
We  had  to  stand  aside,  of  course.  Every  shell 
seemed  to  plunge  right  into  the  struggling 
mass ;  confusion  reigned  supreme  for  a  few 
moments  and,  taken  all  in  all,  and  the  fact  of 
the  batteries  being  in  retreat  (although  their 
ammunition  chests  may  have  been  empty)  it 
was  the  most  discouraging  sight  I  had  seen 
during  the  day. 

When  we  got  an  opportunity  we  crossed.  I 
had  suggested — not  unselfishly,  altogether — to 
the  men  who  were  carrying  me  that  they  lay 


3OO   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

me  in  the  ditch  and  get  under  cover  until 
the  fire  slackened  a  little.  They  declined,  in 
forcible  language  and  with  much  profanity. 
We  found  that  Dr.  Humphreys  had  established 
his  hospital  within  a  few  paces  of  the  head  of 
the  bridge.  Here  was  a  good  deal  of  con 
fusion;  shell  were  falling  or  exploding  con 
stantly  ;  the  wounded  were  being  hit  and  some 
of  them  killed  every  moment.  The  doctor  was 
sending  them  to  the  rear  as  fast  as  he  could  get 
ambulances  or  wagons  to  carry  them.  The 
shells  and  bullets  did  not  seem  to  enter  into 
the  doctor's  calculations  only  so  far  as  they 
were  injuring  his  wounded.  Personally  he 
seemed  to  treat  them  with  the  calmest  in 
difference.  He  examined  my  wound  and  de 
ciding  it  would  never  need  any  dressing,  sent 
me  and  my  stretcher  to  the  rear.  We  turned 
to  the  left  up  the  stream,  and  after  a  little  time 
arrived  at  Miller's  house,  where,  very  much  to 
my  astonishment  then,  although  I  understand 
it  now,  I  found  the  whole  place,  house,  out 
houses,  orchard,  and  enclosures  of  all  kinds, 
filled  with  wounded,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that 
most  of  them  were  our  own  men.  I  could  not 
understand  where  they  came  from  or  how  they 
got  there. 

Now,  Colonel,  these   are  some    of  the  prin 
cipal  things  which  I  remember  about  the  battle 


POSSIBLE  ERRORS  OF  MEMORY.  3O1 

of  Antietam.  I  know  that  the  principal  thing 
you  wished  was  a  topographical  description  of 
our  part  of  the  field.  I  have  done  as  well  as  I 
could  in  that  respect.  I  can  see  it  all  very 
plainly,  but  cannot  describe  it  as  I  would  wish. 
I  have  been  careful  in  giving  the  directions  in 
which  we  moved  that  day.  I  have  taken  care 
to  state  only  what  I  know,  or  what  I  think  I 
saw.  I  only  mention  the  names  of  officers  and 
men  whom  I  was  forced  to  notice.  It  does  not 
follow  that  those  who  escaped  my  notice  were 
not  present  and  in  the  thickest  of  it.  For 
example,  I  do  not  remember  seeing  Larry 
Leahy  at  all  after  he  was  sent  out  with  the 
skirmishers,  just  after  we  climbed  the  hill ;  but 
no  testimony  is  needed  from  any  one  to  satisfy 
those  who  knew  him,  that  he  was  where  duty 
called  him. 

It  is  possible,  as  I  mentioned  at  the  begin 
ning,  that  I  may  be  wrong  in  many  of  these 
statements  ;  some  of  them  may  have  gotten  out 
of  their  proper  positions,  or  become  confused 
with  other  battles  or  some  other  movement, 
but  I  have  done  the  best  I  could. 

Very  truly  yours, 

M.  J.  GRAHAM. 

About  the  time  the  first  brigade  was  ordered 
to  charge,  the  Confederate  General,  A.  P.  Hill, 


3O2   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

arrived  on  the  field  from  Harper's  Ferry  with  a 
body  of  several  thousand  troops,  who  had  made 
a  forced  march  from  that  place  after  its  sur 
render  to  "  Stonewall  "  Jackson.  These  troops 
came  by  the  Sheperdstown  road  and  arrived  on 
the  Union  left  flank  while  the  charge  was  in 
progress. 

Their  attack  compelled  first  the  8gth  and  later 
the  iO3d  New  York  to  halt  and  change  front  to 
oppose  them,  but  the  Ninth  being  in  ignorance 
of  the  attack,  kept  straight  forward,  officers  and 
men  concentrating  their  attention  on  the  rebel 
line  of  battle  in  their  immediate  front,  which 
was  delivering  a  steady  fire  upon  them.  When 
the  enemy  broke  and  ran  from  their  stone  wall 
breastwork  leaving  a  battery  in  possession  of 
the  regiment  (supposed  to  be  Mclntosh's,  which 
A.  P.  Hill  had  sent  forward  in  advance  of  his 
infantry),  the  Ninth  found  themselves  alone 
and  entirely  unsupported  on  the  hill  overlook 
ing  the  village  of  Sharpsburg.  The  other 
regiments  of  the  brigade  being  faced  toward 
the  new  attack  from  the  left,  had  checked  the 
rebel  advance,  and  were  holding  them  at  bay. 
Owing  to  the  great  losses  sustained  during  the 
charge,  and  especially  by  the  last  volleys  of  the 
enemy,  the  regimental  formation  of  the  Ninth 
had  become  badly  broken.  Many  of  the  men 
flushed  with  enthusiasm  and  the  intense,  almost 


CHECKING  THE  IMPETUOUS  ONES.  &O3 

savage  desire  for  vengeance  on  those  who  had 
slain  so  many  of  their  comrades,  continued  in 
pursuit  of  the  fleeing  enemy  down  the  hill 
toward  the  village.  Even  after  the  regiment 
was  halted  and  the  readjustment  of  the  line 
ordered,  some  of  the  officers  were  obliged  to 
follow  and  command  these  men  individually  to 
return  to  the  lijne.  The  acting  adjutant,  Lieu 
tenant  Horner,  only  succeeded  in  driving  Ser 
geant  Searing  of  Company  D  (who  was  among 
the  foremost  in  the  pursuit)  back  to  the  com 
pany  by  threatening  him  with  a  revolver. 

Searing  had  been  wounded  during  the  charge 
but  not  severely  enough  to  disable  him.  He 
was  not  inclined  to  submit,  even  when  so 
threatened  by  the  officer.  All  the  latent  tiger 
in  his  nature  had  been  awakened  and  aroused 
by  the  sights  and  sounds  of  the  last  quarter  of 
an  hour,  and  it  required  decidedly  pointed 
demonstrations  on  the  part  of  the  acting  adju 
tant  to  recall  him  to  the  condition  of  the 
obedient  and  well-disciplined  non-com,  of 
ordinary  times.  One  of  these  enthusiasts  had 
pursued  the  enemy  into  the  village,  at  least  his 
dead  body  was  afterward  found  in  the  village 
street. 

After  having  passed  through  that  dreadful 
storm  of  death  and  wounds  there  was  still 
about  one  hundred  men  of  the  Ninth  left  to 


304    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

rally  around  their  colors  on  that  bloody  hilltop. 
These  Kimball  formed  into  a  company  on  the 
ground  which  had  been  occupied  by  the  enemy's 
line  of  battle,  and  while  still  exchanging  shots 
with  the  scattered  groups  of  the  enemy,  waited 
anxiously  for  the  reinforcements  which  were 
momentarily  expected  to  appear. 

The  greater  part  of  the  enemy  against  whom 
the  charge  had  been  made  had  fallen  back  in 
confusion  into  the  village  of  Sharpsburg,  where 
they  were  striving  to  reform  their  scattered  and 
apparently  demoralized  men.  Others  had  re 
treated  across  the  deep  ravine  through  which 
runs  the  road  from  the  village  to  and  across 
Burnside's  bridge,  and  had  joined  the  force  of 
infantry  and  artillery  which  occupied  the  hill 
where  the  National  cemetery  is  now  located. 
The  Ninth  Corps  is  said  to  have  numbered  about 
1 5,000  men,  only  part  of  which  had  been  heavily 
engaged,  while  the  entire  Fifth  Corps  had  not 
yet  pulled  a  trigger  in  the  entire  battle.  While 
the  Ninth  was  holding  the  position  easily  and 
was  so  far  as  could  be  seen  in  no  immediate 
danger  of  dislodgment,  Major  L.  C.  Brackett, 
of  General  Wilcox's  staff,  rode  up  and  informed 
Kimball  of  the  situation  on  the  left  and  rear, 
and  directed  him  to  retire  his  regiment.  Kim 
ball  objected  to  this  and  Brackett  did  not  feel 
that  he  was  in  a  position  where  he  could  right- 


KIMBALL  DECLINES  TO  RETIRE.  3O5 

fully  exercise  his  authority  as  staff  officer  and 
order  him  to  do  so,  Wilcox's  division,  which 
was  also  of  the  Ninth  Corps,  had  moved  for 
ward,  whether  in  support  of  Rodman's  division 
or  as  part  of  the  general  movement  cannot  now 
be  satisfactorily  determined.  They  had,  how 
ever,  arrived  at  a  point  comparatively  near  the 
position  then  occupied  by  the  Zouaves,  when 
Brackett  rode  forward  to  inform  Kimball  of  the 
dangerous  position  in  which  his  regiment  was 
placed. 

While  he  (Brackett)  knew  that  the  situation 
of  the  Ninth,  with  Hill's  rebel  troops  attacking  its 
flank,  was  a  very  much  exposed  and  extremely 
dangerous  one,  he  hesitated  to  give  an  absolute 
order  to  fall  back.  Kimball  declined  to  retire 
unless  he  was  peremptorily  ordered  to  do  so. 
He  was  not  disturbed  or  confused  in  the  least 
by  the  information  that  his  flank  was  being 
attacked.  He  was  sure  that  the  other  regi 
ments  of  the  brigade  were  still  on  his  left, 
and  he  knew  that  within  a  short  distance  of  his 
position  there  was  ample  force  to  not  only 
capture  Sharpsburg  and  turn  Lee's  right,  but 
also  to  encompass  the  destruction  of  the  now 
thoroughly  exhausted  and  partly  demoral 
ized  rebel  army.  He  felt  no  necessity  for  retreat 
ing,  and  he  so  informed  Major  Brackett,  assur 
ing  him  that  he  was  in  no  difficulties,  but  was 


3O6   NIN'IH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

well  able  to  maintain  his  position.  He  pointed 
out  the  evidences  of  demoralization  among  the 
enemy  in  sight,  and  demonstrated  that  the 
order  should  be  to  advance  instead  of  retreat, 
and  requested  the  Major  to  impress  upon  the 
generals  as  strongly  as  possible  the  exact  con 
dition  of  affairs  and  the  urgent  necessity  of 
quickly  sending  reinforcements  to  finish  the 
work  which  his  brigade  had  thus  far  so  suc 
cessfully  prosecuted. 

When  one  or  more  of  his  own  officers  sug 
gested  that  Major  Brackett's  contention  was 
correct,  and  that  they  should  retire,  inasmuch 
as  there  were  not  cartridges  enough  left  in  the 
boxes  of  the  men  to  enable  them  to  hold  their 
ground  very  long,  Kimball  replied  :  "  We  have 
the  bayonets.  What  are  they  given  to  us 
for?"  etc. 

Before  the  discussion  ended  Wilcox  and  the 
rest  of  his  staff  rode  up  and  the  General 
directed  Kimball  to  retire.  Before  the  regi 
ment  was  put  in  motion  to  carry  out  the  order 
there  was  noticed  what  appeared  to  be  a  fresh 
brigade  of  the  enemy  preparing  for  a  charge  on 
the  Zouaves.  Wilcox  feared  the  effect  of  a 
charge  on  the  troops  already  attacked  in  flank. 
There  was  no  time  to  bring  up  reinforcements 
or  to  send  for  ammunition.  There  were  just 
then  no  troops  at  hand  to  meet  the  impending 


' '  THE Y  ARE  NO T  DRIVEN  OFF. "  3O7 

attack  but  the  badly  shattered  Ninth,  alone  and 
unsupported,  and  whose  cartridge  boxes  he 
knew  were  nearly  empty.  But  desperate  as  the 
situation  was  he  determined  to  meet  it  in  the 
only  way  possible  and  try  to  prevent  the  dis 
aster  that  would  almost  surely  follow  if  the 
rebels  were  successful.  He  called  Kimball 
aside  and  said:  "  Ask  your  command  if  they 
will  receive  the  charge  at  the  point  of  the  bayo 
net  if  we  stick  to  them?"  Their  answer  was 
given  in  cheers  and  the  fixing  of  bayonets. 

A  movement  on  the  left  just  then  frustrated 
the  plans  of  the  enemy  and  the  charge  was  not 
made. 

While  obeying  the  orders  to  fall  back  Kim- 
ball  still  insisted  that  his  regiment  was  not 
beaten.  He  called  Wilcox's  attention  to  the 
manner  in  which  the  regiment  moved  off  quietly 
submitting  to  his  command :  "  Look  at  my 
regiment !  They  go  off  this  field  under  orders. 
They  are  not  driven  off.  Do  they  look  like  a 
beaten  regiment?"  He  insisted  that  the  Gen 
eral  should  acknowledge  that  the  regiment  re 
tired  under  direct  orders  from  the  field,  to  gain 
which  it  had  suffered  such  fearful  losses. 

One  who  viewed  the  battle  from  Elk  Ridge, 
near  McClellan's  headquarters,  thus  describes 
the  closing  moments  of  the  battle  on  the  left : 

"  Immediately  north  of  Sharpsburg  and  along 


308   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

the  hill  in  front,  now  the  National  Cemetery, 
Longstreet's  cannon  were  in  play.  Half  way 
up  the  hill  Burnside's  men  were  sending  out  a 
continuous  flame,  with  A.  P.  Hill's  veterans 
confronting  them.  All  the  country  was  flam 
ing  and  smoking ;  shells  were  bursting  above 
the  contending  lines ;  Burnside  was  asking  for 
reinforcements.  How  quickly  Porter's  corps 
could  have  rushed  across  Antietam  bridge  with 
no  Confederates  to  oppose  them,  swept  up  the 
hillside  and  forced  themselves  like  a  wedge  be 
tween  Longstreet  and  A.  P.  Hill ;  but  McClel- 
lan  had  only  Miller's  battery  to  send  him.  The 
sun  went  down  ;  the  thunder  died  away  the 
musketry  ceased;  bivouac  fires  gleamed  as  if  a 
great  city  had  lighted  its  lamps." 

The  regiment  fell  back  to  a  position  near 
Antietam  Creek,  and  subsequently  recrossed 
the  stream  and  bivouacked  on  high  ground 
below  Burnside's  bridge. 

When  the  advance  of  the  brigade,  prepara 
tory  to  fording  the  creek  was  first  made,  that 
part  of  the  battery  (Company  K)  under  Lieu 
tenant  Morris,  which  had  been  stationed  on  the 
left  of  the  brigade  on  the  night  of  the  i6th,  ad 
vanced  and  took  up  a  position  which  would 
enable  it  to  command  the  enemy's  position  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  ford.  It  rendered  valuable 
service  in  clearing  the  hills  on  the  opposite  side 


KIMBALL 'S  JUDGMENT  CORRECT.  3O9 

of  the  stream  of  the  enemy,  or  so  harassing 
those  who  could  not  be  dislodged  that  they 
were  unable  to  offer  any  very  effective  opposi 
tion  to  the  crossing  of  the  infantry.  The  whole 
battery  subsequently  forded  the  stream,  under 
a  heavy  fire,  and  after  being  engaged  so  con 
tinuously  that  its  ammunition  was  exhausted, 
recrossed  and  was  detailed  by  General  Burn- 
side  to  act  as  infantry. 

The  men  were  posted  as  sharpshooters  and 
maintained  the  position  to  which  they  were 
assigned  all  night  and  the  following  day. 

It  was  the  universal  opinion  at  this  time  that 
a  golden  opportunity  had  been  wasted  and  the 
Ninth  Corps  prevented  from  winning  laurels 
which  would  have  completely  offset  the  some 
what  vicious  criticisms  since  made  over  its 
tardy  movements  in  the  forepart  of  the  day  and 
for  which  the  Corps  as  a  body  was  in  no  way 
responsible.  A  careful  review  of  the  battle  by 
the  military  student  will  clearly  show  that 
Colonel  Kimball  was  positively  correct  in  his 
surmises.  His  experience  as  a  veteran  of  the 
Mexican  War  having  taught  him  the  value  of 
a  combined  dash  at  a  critical  point,  where  ap 
parent  rashness  accomplishes  the  desired  result 
with  the  sacrifice  of  comparatively  few  lives. 
There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  Lee 
would  have  been  overwhelmed  and  driven  into 


310   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

the  Potomac.  His  own  generals  admitted  this 
possibility,  and  were  extremely  grateful  that 
Rodman's  attack  was  not  more  strongly  sup 
ported,  as  there  would  have  been  but  one  end 
ing  to  the  story. 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  numerically 
superior,  in  better  physical  condition,  and 
nerved  on  by  success,  only  one  thing  was 
lacking --a  leader. 

The  enemy's  skirmishers,  shortly  after  the 
troops  on  the  left  fell  back,  occupied  the 
ground  over  which  the  brigade  had  charged, 
which  enclosed  many  of  the  disabled  wounded 
within  their  lines.  The  regiment  was  not  as  a 
body  again  engaged  that  day.  Fighting  ceased 
long  before  nightfall,  although  skirmishing  and 
picket  firing  continued  through  the  night  and 
all  the  following  day.  It  was  afterward  learned 
that  this  activity  on  the  part  of  the  rebels  was 
to  cover  Lee's  withdrawal  across  the  Potomac. 

On  the  next  day  the  knowledge  was  unpleas 
antly  and  forcibly  brought  to  the  attention  of 
almost  everyone,  both  officers  and  men,  that  the 
feeling  of  distrust  towards  the  authority  respon 
sible  for  the  terrible  mistakes  committed  on 
the  left  of  the  line  during  the  battle  was  shared 
by  all.  It  was  demonstrated  that  practically 
every  man  in  the  regiment  was  fully  alive  to 
the  grevious  errors  which  caused  the  withdrawal 


"FALL  IN  FOR  THE  SLAUGHTER  HOUSE."        311 

of  the  regiment  from  its  advanced  and  hard- 
won  position,  and  they  perfectly  realized  the 
fact  that  their  efforts  toward  success  and  their 
devotion  to  duty  had  been  wasted  and  the 
lives  of  so  many  of  their  comrades  sacrificed 
for  naught. 

Two  companies  were  ordered  to  move  down 
the  stream  a  short  distance  and  defend  a  ford 
below  the  bridge. 

When  the  detail  was  made  many  of  the  men 
supplemented  the  command  of  the  first  ser 
geants  to  "  fall  in,"  with  shouts  of  "  fall  in  for 
the  slaughter  house,"  and  other  cries  equally 
as  pointed  and  expressive  of  their  feelings.  At 
that  time,  and  until  it  gradually  wore  away, 
there  was  great  indignation  among  all  ranks 
in  the  regiment  and  a  feeling  which  bordered 
closely  on  conviction,  that  no  matter  what  other 
ability  might  be  possessed  by  some  of  the  higher 
officers,  it  was  not  the  ability  to  fight  and  win 
battles. 

The  above  detail  of  two  companies  who  were 
defending  the  ford  were  actively  engaged  dur 
ing  the  entire  day,  and  met  with  several 
casualties,  but  on  the  night  of  the  i8th  the 
enemy's  skirmishers  withdrew,  and  the  follow 
ing  morning  Lee's  army  had  disappeared. 

As  is  customary  after  a  battle  a  certain  per 
centage  of  the  survivors  were  active  in  render- 


312   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

ing  assistance  to  the  wounded  between  the 
lines. 

This  does  not  refer  to  the  details  which  at 
such  times  are  always  made  to  care  for  the 
wounded  and  bury  the  dead,  but  to  volunteers 
who  singly,  in  couples,  or  larger  groups  were 
willing  to  run  the  risk  of  death,  wounds  or 
capture,  in  order  to  succor  comrades  known  to 
have  fallen,  and  who  might  possibly  be  alive 
but  helpless,  and  whose  lives  might  be  saved  if 
assistance  could  reach  them  before  the  regular 
hospital  corps  commenced  its  labors.  These 
acts  of  humanity  illustrate  the  strong  bonds  of 
comradeship  which  existed.  They  occurred 
on  every  battlefield  of  the  war,  and  it  is  fair 
to  state  that  those  engaged  in  these  works  of 
mercy  were  seldom  interfered  with  by  the 
enemy.  The  men  generally  proceeded  without 
arms,  and,  if  they  did  not  approach  too  close  to 
the  lines  of  the  enemy,  their  presence  was 
generally  ignored. 

David  L.  Stage,  of  Company  A,  was  left  on 
the  field  so  badly  wounded  .that  he  was  unable 
to  crawl  away.  At  the  opening  of  the  cam 
paign  he  was  a  patient  in  the  Hygiene  Hospital 
at  Fortress  Monroe,  just  convalescent  from  an 
attack  of  typhoid  fever.  Upon  learning  that 
his  regiment  was  on  the  move,  he  sought  for 
and  obtained  his  discharge  from  the  hospital 


SUCCORING  THE  WOUNDED.  313 

with  orders  to  rejoin  his  company,  and  re 
ported  for  duty  just  before  the  command  left 
Washington. 

Being  "  soft  "from  life  in  the  hospital  he  broke 
down,  and  being  unable  to  keep  up  with  the 
regiment,  reported  to  the  company  commander, 
requesting  to  be  excused  from  evening  roll-call, 
and  to  be  permitted  to  get  over  the  ground 
in  his  own  fashion,  promising  to  be  present  at 
the  morning  roll-calls,  and  to  be  with  the  regi 
ment  in  the  next  engagement.  His  captain 
recommended  that  he  "  report  sick  "  and  be  or 
dered  to  an  ambulance,  which  suggestion  was 
declined.  He  was  with  his  company  at  South 
Mountain  and  pulled  through  all  right,  but  at 
Antietam  he  was  wounded  five  times  and  left 
on  the  field  when  the  regiment  fell  back.  He 
was  found  by  one  of  the  above  mentioned 
searchers,  John  W.  Jacobus,  of  his  own  com 
pany,  barely  alive.  For  two  days  he  had  lain 
on  the  battlefield  without  food  or  drink  with 
his  wounds  fly-blown  and  filled  with  maggots. 
One  wound  was  in  the  face,  the  jaw  having 
been  broken  by  a  fragment  of  shell,  making 
the  mastication  of  soldier's  fare  an  impossibility. 
Procuring  a  bottle,  Jacobus,  with  much  inge 
nuity  and  the  aid  of  a  quill  projecting  through 
the  cork,  improvised  a  very  respectable  nursing 
bottle,  and  espying  a  cow  in  the  neighboring 


314   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

field  obtained  a  supply  of  milk  with  which  he 
fed  Stage.  This  restored  his  strength  to  such 
a  degree  that  he  was  able  to  bear  removal,  when 
with  the  assistance  of  others  of  the  boys  he  was 
carried  to  the  hospital,  where,  under  the  skillful 
and  attentive  treatment  of  Surgeon  Humphreys, 
he  was  soon  out  of  danger  and  ultimately  made 
a  complete  recovery. 

The  following  extracts  of  reports  are  taken 
from  the  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion  : 

Vol.  19,  Series  I,  page  63,  from  the  report  of 
Maj.-Gen.  Geo.  B.  McClellan : 

"  The  troops  of  General  Burnside  held  the  left  of  the  line  opposite 
bridge  No.  3.  The  attack  on  the  right  was  to  have  been  supported  by 
the  attack  on  the  left.  I  visited  Burnside's  position  on  the  i6th  and 
after  pointing  out  to  him  the  proper  dispositions  to  be  made  of  his 
troops,  informed  him  he  would  probably  be  required  to  attack  the 
enemy's  right  on  the  following  morning,  and  directed  him  to  make 
careful  reconnaissances.  *  *  *  * 

"  Early  in  the  morning  of  the  i7th  I  ordered  Burnside  to  form  his 
troops  and  hold  them  in  readiness  to  assault  the  bridge  in  his  front, 
and  await  further  orders.  At  eight  o'clock  an  order  was  sent  to  him 
by  Lieutenant  Wilson,  Topographical  Engineer,  to  carry  the  bridge, 
then  to  gain  possession  of  the  heights  beyond,  and  to  advance  along 
their  crest  upon  Sharpsburg  and  its  rear.  After  some  time  had 
elapsed,  not  hearing  from  him,  I  dispatched  an  aide  to  ascertain  what 
had  been  done.  The  aide  returned  with  the  information  that  but 
little  progress  had  been  made. 

"  I  then  sent  him  back  with  an  order  to  General  Burnside  to  assault 
the  bridge  at  once,  and  carry  it  at  all  hazards.  The  aide  returned  to 
me  a  second  time  with  the  report  that  the  bridge  was  still  in  possession 
of  the  enemy,  and  I  directed  Colonel  Sackett,  Inspector  General,  to 
deliver  to  Burnside  my  positive  instructions  to  push  forward  without 
delay,  and  if  necessary  carry  the  bridge  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet, 
and  ordered  Colonel  Sackett  to  remain  with  Burnside  and  see  the  order 
was  executed  promptly.  After  three  hours'  delay  the  bridge  was 
carried  at  one  o'clock  by  a  brilliant  charge  of  the  sist  New  York  and 
5ist  Pennsylvania  ;  other  troops  were  then  thrown  over  and  the  oppo- 


GENERAL  McCLELLAWS  REPORT.  3 1  5 

site  bank  occupied  the  enemy  retreating  to  the  heights  beyond.  A 
halt  was  then  made  by  Burnside's  advance  until  3  P.M.,  upon  hearing 
which  I  directed  one  of  my  aides,  Colonel  Key,  to  inform  General 
Burnside  that  I  desired  him  to  push  forward  his  troops  with  the  utmost 
vigor  and  carry  the  enemy's  position  on  the  heights  ;  that  the  move 
ment  was  vital  to  our  success  ;  and  this  was  a  time  when  we  must  not 
stop  for  loss  of  life  if  a  great  object  could  be  accomplished  ;  that  if,  in 
his  judgment,  his  attack  would  fail,  to  inform  me  so  at  once,  that  his 
troops  might  be  withdrawn  and  used  elsewhere  on  the  field. 

"  He  replied  that  he  would  soon  advance,  and  would  go  up  the  hill 
as  far  as  a  battery  of  the  enemy  on  the  left  would  permit. 

Upon  this  report  I  again  immediately  sent  Key  to  Burnside,  with 
orders  to  advance  at  once,  if  possible,  to  flank  the  battery  or  storm  it, 
repeating  that  if  he  considered  the  movement  impracticable  to  inform 
me  so,  that  his  troops  might  be  recalled.  The  advance  was  then 
gallantly  resumed,  the  enemy  driven  from  their  guns,  the  heights 
handsomely  carried,  and  a  portion  of  the  troops  even  reached  the 
outskirts  of  Sharpsburg. 

"  By  this  time  it  was  nearly  dark,  and  strong  reinforcements  just 
then  reaching  the  enemy  from  Harper's  Ferry,  attacked  Burnside's 
troops  on  the  left  flank  and  forced  them  to  retire  to  a  lower  range  of 
hills  nearer  the  bridge. 

"  If  this  important  movement  had  been  consummated  two  hours 
earlier  a  position  would  have  been  secured  upon  the  heights,  from 
which  our  batteries  might  have  enfiladed  the  greater  part  of  the 
enemy's  line  and  turned  their  right  and  rear.  Our  victory  might  then 
have  been  much  more  decisive." 

Extracts  from  Burnside's  report,  page  419: 

"  At  this  time  (morning  of  iyth)  Rodman's  division  with  Scammon's 
brigade  in  support  was  opposite  the  fovd  some  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
below  the  bridge.  *  *  *  * 

"  The  battery  of  Dahlgren  boat  howitzers  attached  to  the  gth  New 
York  covered  the  crossing  of  Rodman's  division  at  the  ford.  At  ten 
o'clock  I  received  an  order  from  the  commanding  general  to  make  the 
attack.  *  *  *  Rodman  was  directed  to  cross  over  at  the  ford  below  the 
bridge  and  join  on  to  the  left  of  the  command,  which  was  to  be  thrown 
over  the  bridge.  From  General  Cook's  position  it  was  found  to  be 
almost  impossible  to  carry  the  bridge,  and  General  Sturgis  was 
ordered  to  make  a  detail  from  his  division  for  that  purpose. 

"  He  sent  forward  the  2d  Maryland  and  6th  New  Hampshire,  which 
regiments  made  several  successive  attacks  in  the  most  gallant  style, 
but  were  driven  back  by  the  galling  fire  of  the  enemy. 

"  I  then  directed  the  batteries  on  the  left  to  concentrate  their  fire  on 
the  woods  above  the  bridge,  and  sent  Sturgis  word  to  detail  the  sist 


316   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Pennsylvania  and  sist  New  York  to  assault  the  bridge  and  carry  it  at 
all  hazards. 

"  In  the  meantime  Colonel  Crook  had  brought  a  section  of  his  battery 
to  bear  upon  the  heights  just  above  the  bridge.  Sturgis,  by  a  judi 
cious  posting  of  these  two  regiments  in  rear  of  a  spur  which  fronted 
the  bridge,  succeeded  in  protecting  them  from  the  enemy's  fire  until 
they  reached  the  crest  of  the  spur,  at  which  point  they  commenced 
their  charge  and  carried  the  bridge  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  about 
one  o'clock,  the  whole  division  following  immediately.  *  «  *  * 

"  Rodman's  division  succeeded  in  crossing  the  fords  below,  after  a 
sharp  fight  of  musketry  and  artillery,  and  joined  on  to  the  left  of 
Sturgis."  *  *  *  * 

"  The  dispositions  being  completed,  about  three  o'clock  in  accord 
ance  with  instructions  received  from  the  general  commanding,  I 
directed  Cox  to  move  forward  with  the  whole  command,  except 
Sturgis'  division  left  in  reserve.  *  *  *  Rodman  succeeded  in 
carrying  the  main  heights  on  the  left  of  the  town,  one  of  his  regi 
ments  (the  gth  New  York)  capturing  one  of  the  most  formidable  of  the 
enemy's  batteries  (Mclntosh's);  but  at  this  juncture  the  enemy  was 
largely  reinforced  by  A.  P.  Hill's  light  division,  which  had  just  arrived 
from  Harper's  Ferry.  During  the  attack  Rodman  was  forced  to  bear 
more  to  the  left  than  was  intended  when  the  advance  was  ordered,  and 
Cox  was  forced  to  move  him  more  to  the  right  with  a  view  to  strength 
ening  the  line,  during  which  movement  Rodman  was  mortally  wounded 
while  gallantly  leading  his  command  to  the  assault.  At  this  time 
Colonel  Harland's  brigade  was  driven  back  leaving  the  battery  which 
they  had  captured.  *  *  * 

"  It  was  now  nearly  sundown  and  I  ordered  Sturgis'  division  forward 
in  support  and  they  held  the  enemy  at  bay,  fighting  him  at  close 
quarters  until  long  after  dark.  The  enemy  being  strongly  reinforced, 
and  as  we  could  not  be,  the  command  was  ordered  to  fall  back  to  the 
crests  above  the  bridge." 

General  Cox  in  his  report,  page  426,  says : 
"  Rodman  fell  desperately  wounded  by  a  ball 
through  his  breast.  The  loss  of  their  com 
mander  at  this  critical  period  caused  confusion 
in  a  portion  of  the  division  on  the  extreme 
left." 

Kimball's  report  to  his  brigade  commander 
says :  "  At  daylight  on  the  morning  of  the 


LT.  COLONEL  KIMB ALL'S  REPORT.  317 

iyth,  six  of  the  rebel  guns  commenced  shell 
ing  us  with  such  effect  as  to  compel  us  to 
change  our  position.  The  Ninth  lost  here  in 
wounded  twelve  men.  After  changing  our 
position  still  further  to  the  left,  I  directed,  in 
accordance  with  orders  from  the  General  com 
manding  the  battery,  Company  K,  Captain 
Whiting,  to  open  fire  on  the  enemy's  battery 
across  the  creek,  which  he  did,  soon  silencing 
it.  Immediately  after  this  we  were  ordered 
to  ford  the  creek  and  form  in  line  of  battle 
on  the  bluff  opposite,  directly  in  front  of  the 
enemy,  which  order  was  promptly  executed, 
pushing  his  entire  line  of  skirmishers  back  from 
the  creek,  and  compelling  him  to  retire  to  his 
main  force  on  his  left,  we  proceeding  by  the 
right  flank  along  the  bluff  of  the  creek  for  about 
three-fourths  of  a  mile  to  the  brow  of  a  hill, 
till  within  about  eight  hundred  yards  of  the 
enemy's  main  body  of  artillery  and  infantry. 

"Here  we  halted  for  rest,  when  the  rebel  bat 
teries  opened  an  unmerciful  fire  of  shot  and 
shell  upon  us,  killing  and  wounding  a  number 
of  my  regiment.  We  were  soon  ordered  to 
advance,  which  was  promptly  done,  the  differ 
ent  battalions  moving  in  line  of  battle,  and 
dressing  on  their  colors  with  as  much  coolness 
and  accuracy  as  though  upon  the  drill  ground 
instead  of  the  battlefield. 


318    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

"After  proceeding  about  two  hundred  yards 
you  ordered  the  charge  to  be  made,  when  we 
rushed  forward  with  a  wild  huzzah,  peculiar  to 
the  Zouaves,  and  immediately  received  the  fire 
of  thousands  of  the  enemy's  fresh  troops,  con 
sisting  of  infantry  and  artillery,  which  had  been 
brought  forward  to  meet  us.  At  this  time  the 
gallant  Cooper  fell.  A  shell  fell  in  my  lines, 
killing  eight  men  at  one  explosion,  and  a 
round  shot  took  off  private  Conway's  head. 
While  the  infantry  fire  was  like  hail  around  and 
among  us,  producing  the  most  dreadful  car 
nage,  not  a  man  who  was  not  wounded, 
wavered  or  faltered,  but  all  pressed  on  with 
charged  bayonets  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  and 
drove  the  enemy  from  his  position.  At  this 
time  our  color-bearers  and  guard  had  all  been 
shot  down,  when  Captain  Libaire  of  Company 
E,  seized  one,  and  Captain  Leahy  of  Company  I, 
the  other  of  our  standards  and  advanced  them 
to  the  wall  near  the  road,  when  the  rout  of  the 
enemy  at  this  point  became  complete.  After 
crossing  the  road  and  ravine  the  enemy 
promptly  rallied  and  attempted  to  turn  upon  us 
by  a  flank  movement  on  our  left,  but  were  pre 
vented  by  the  8gth  New  York,  under  command 
of  Major  Jardine  of  the  Ninth,  who  gave  them 
the  bayonet,  and  captured  their  colors,  which 
proved  to  be  those  of  a  South  Carolina  regi- 


L  T.  COL  ON  EL  KIM  BALL  >S  REPOR  T.  319 

ment,  and  completing  the  victory  at  this  point. 
After  resting  here  for  a  short  time  and  finding 
the  enemy  massing  fresh  troops  in  large  force 
on  our  left,  we  were  ordered  to  retire  and  take 
position  about  four  hundred  yards  in  the  rear 
of  the  position  we  then  occupied,  which  change 
was  executed  in  good  order  and  without  con 
fusion.  After  remaining  in  this  position  for  a 
short  time  we  were  positively  ordered  to  with 
draw  from  the  greater  part  of  the  field  we  had 
won. 

"  The  men  retired  in  good  order  at  a  slow 
step,  and  with  tears  in  their  eyes  at  the 
necessity  which  compelled  them  to  leave  the 
field  they  had  so  dearly  won  and  bivouacked 
for  the  night.  Thus  ended  one  of  the  hardest 
battles  ever  fought  on  this  continent.  While 
all  behaved  so  gallantly  it  would  be  invidious 
to  mention  one  as  distinguished  above  another. 

Captain  Libaire,  Company  E  (color  company) 
did  splendid  service,  and  seized  and  carried 
the  colors  when  the  sergeant  bearing  them 
was  shot  down. 

"  Captain  Childs,  Company  G,  wounded  by  a 
shell  early  in  the  morning,  was  prevented  from 
taking  further  part  in  the  action  of  the  day. 
Captain  Leahy,  Company  I,  acted  in  the  most 
gallant  manner,  seizing  and  advancing  to  the 
foremost  front  one  of  our  standards  when  the 


320  NINTH  REGIMENT.  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

regular  bearer  thereof  was  killed.  Lieutenants 
Bartholomew,  Burdett,  McKechnie,  Klingsoehr 
and  Powell,  all  performed  their  duty  in  the 
most  gallant  manner,  and  to  my  entire  satis 
faction. 

"  Lieutenant  Graham,  commanding  Company 
A  (Captain  Graham  being  sick  in  hospital)  was 
wounded,  and  since  has  had  his  leg  amputated, 
behaved  in  a  most  admirable  manner.  Lieu 
tenant  Horner,  acting  adjutant  (Adjutant  Bar- 
nett  being  sick),  behaved  splendidly  and 
performed  every  duty  in  the  coolest  manner 
and  to  my  entire  satisfaction.  Captain  Whiting 
and  Lieutenant  Morris,  of  battery  Company  K, 
although  not  under  my  immediate  notice,  being 
detailed  on  artillery  service  in  another  part  of 
the  field,  I  learned  behaved  well,  Lieutenant 
Morris  making  some  excellent  shots  with  his 
rifled  guns,  and  silencing  one  of  the  enemy's 
batteries.  The  thanks  of  the  entire  regiment 
are  due  to  Surgeon  Humphreys  and  Assistant- 
Surgeon  Harding,  who  were  indefatigable  in 
their  attentions  to  the  wounded. 

"  We  have  to  lament  the  death  of  2d  Lieut.  E. 
C.  Cooper,  who  was  wounded  just  as  we  entered 
the  charge,  who  thought  his  wounds  slight  and 
refused  to  be  carried  from  the  field.  He  was  a 
good  officer,  a  brave  and  gallant  soldier,  and 
much  beloved,  and  his  loss  is  deeply  regretted 
by  the  regiment. 


LT.  COLONEL  KIMBALL^S  REPORT.  321 

"  I  cannot  close  this  report  without  calling 
your  special  attention  to  the  Quartermaster- 
Sergeant  Pannes  (slightly  wounded),  Sergeants 
Dews,  Whitney  (wounded),  and  Schmidt;  Cor 
porals  Farrell  (wounded)  Cornell  and  Roberts, 
Company  B  ;  Sergeants  Forbes,  Salisbury  and 
Corporal  Vanduzer  (all  wounded)  Company  A ; 
Sergeants  Geayer,  Stiles,  Corporals  Fields  and 
Stephens  (all  wounded)  Company  C ;  Ser 
geants  Fitsgerald  and  Searing,  Company  D ; 
Smith,  Hankinson,  Jackson  and  Keating  (the 
latter  both  wounded)  Company  E ;  Riley, 
River,  Connor  (wounded)  Company  I ;  Color- 
Sergeant  Myers  (wounded)  Company  C ;  and 
Color-Corporal  Van  Cott,  Company  A. 

"  I  would  also  call  your  special  attention  to 
Bugler  Horn,  who,  until  wounded,  sounded  the 
various  commands  with  as  much  coolness  and 
nonchalance  as  though  on  a  parade-ground 
instead  of  a  battle-ground. 

"  The  Pioneer  Corps  under  Corporal  Van 
Duzer  behaved  well,  indeed. 

"There  are  many  non-commissioned  offi 
cers  and  privates  to  whose  names  I  would  be 
pleased  to  individually  call  attention,  did  space 
permit,  but  suffice  it  to  say  that  all  behaved 
gallantly  and  are  entitled  to  credit  for  good 
conduct  on  the  field.  *  *  *  In  conclusion, 
my  thanks  are  due  to  the  8qih  New  York, 


322    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Major  Jardine,  and  the  iO3d  New  York,  Major 
Ringgold,  for  the  efficient  and  united  support 
rendered  us  during  the  entire  engagement.  It 
is  proper  to  add  that  on  the  igth,  I  made  a  de 
tail  from  my  regiment  under  Lieutenant  Pow 
ell,  who  buried  our  entire  dead  and  marked  the 
bodies  for  identification. 

"  Thanking  you  in  behalf  of  my  regiment  for 
the  gallantry  and  coolness  with  which  you  com 
manded  us,  and  the  confidence  with  which  you 

led  us." 

R  A.  KIMBALL, 

Lieutenant-Colonel, 

Commanding  gth  New  York  Volunteers. 

To  COL.  H.  I.  FAIRCHILD, 

Commanding  ist  Brigade, 

3d  Division,  gth  Army  Corps. 

"The  report  of  Col.  H.  I.  Fairchild,  com 
manding  ist  Brigade,  3d  Division,  gth  Army 
Corps,  page  449,  says  : 

"Saturday  morning,  September  I3th,  Gen 
eral  Rodman  ordered  the  gth  New  York,  under 
command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball,  to 
support  Colonel  Rush's  regiment  of  lancers  on 
the  road  from  Frederick  to  Jefferson,  and  sub 
sequently  the  battery  company  of  the  Ninth, 
together  with  the  8gth  and  iO3d  New  York, 
were  ordered  by  General  Parke,  Chief  of  Staff, 
.as  additional  support  to  the  regiment,  and  on 


COLONEL  FAIRCHILD'S  REPORT.  323 

our  arrival  we  found  the  lancers  and  Ninth  had 
a  skirmish  about  five  miles  from  Frederick. 

"The  enemy  was  reported  in  front  with  artill 
ery  and  cavalry,  and  Company  B  of  the  Ninth 
was  sent  forward  to  reconnoitre  on  the  left,  and 
reported  the  enemy  having  left  the  position 
they  occupied  the  previous  night  with  three 
guns  and  a  small  cavalry  force  and  the  road 
clear. 

"Companies  C  and  H,  Captain  Parisen  and 
Lieutenant  McKechnie,  were  sent  to  the  right 
in  the  woods  and  discovered,  engaged  and 
drove  the  enemy's  pickets  across  the  fields 
toward  Middletown,  the  lancers  and  remainder 
of  the  Qth  advancing  toward  Jefferson.  With 
the  rest  of  the  brigade  I  took  position  on  the  hill 
one  and  one-half  miles  this  side  of  Jefferson 
forming  line  of  battle,  and  at  sunset  received 
an  order  from  General  Reno  to  return  with  the 
brigade  to  Frederick,  where  we  arrived  at  7 
o'clock  P.M.,  and  received  orders  to  march  the 
next  morning  (Sunday)  at  3  A.M.  Reaching 
Middletown  the  next  day  at  10  A.M.,  we  bivou 
acked  a  few  hours,  then  moved  to  South 
Mountain  Gap,  and  were  ordered  to  the  left  to 
form  line  of  battle  on  Cox's  division  and  sup 
port  Battery  E,  4th  U.  S.  Artillery. 

"  While  forming  line  of  battle  we  were  at 
tacked  on  the  left  by  the  2d,  3d,  I3th  and  3Oth 


324    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

North  Carolina  regiments,  their  object  being  to 
capture  the  battery  which  had  been  sometime 
in  position  without  support. 

"  The  gth  and  iO3d  New  York  were  in  line 
of  battle  ready  for  action.  The  8gth  New  York 
got  in  line  and  opened  fire  (being  the  only 
regiment  engaged)  with  Battery  E,  4th  Artill 
ery  ;  the  enemy  were  repulsed,  the  left  saved 
from  being  turned,  and  the  battery  from  being 
taken.  Our  loss  was  2  killed,  18  wounded. 
We  captured  18  prisoners  and  150  stand  of 
small  arms,  holding  our  position  during  the 
night,  the  enemy  retreating.  On  the  afternoon 
of  the  1 5th  we  marched  till  late  at  night,  en 
camping  a  little  beyond  Mt.  Carmel.  We  were 
again  ordered  forward  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
i6th,  taking  position  on  a  hill  in  a  cornfield  on 
the  eastern  shore  of  Antietam  Creek,  being  the 
extreme  left  of  line.  Placing  two  guns  of  the 
9th  battery  in  position  on  our  left  flank  we 
slept  on  our  arms. 

"At  daylight,  the  enemy  discovering  our  posi 
tion,  we  were  fired  upon  by  sharpshooters  and 
briskly  shelled  by  a  battery  on  the  opposite 
side  of  creek. 

"  By  order  of  General  Rodman  we  left  this 
exposed  position  under  a  heavy  fire,  having  36 
men  wounded,  and  took  position  to  the  left 
and  rear,  up  the  gorge  of  the  mountain.  After 


COLONEL  FAIRCHIL&S  REPORT.  323 

resting  two  hours  we  were  ordered  to  advance 
and  form  line  of  battle  on  the  crest  of  the  hill 
to  the  left  of  the  position  vacated  in  the  morn 
ing.  The  Qth  battery  was  ordered  to  the  left 
and  commenced  shelling  the  road  and  woods 
on  the  opposite  side  of  creek  driving  the  enemy 
from  their  position.  The  enemy  then  ad 
vanced  their  skirmishers,  but  were  forced  to 
retire  by  the  timely  execution  of  this  battery. 

"  The  brigade  then  moved  by  the  left  flank 
down  to  the  ford,  crossing  the  creek  and  form 
ing  in  the  woods,  advanced  and  took  a  position 
opposite  the  bridge  and  formed  line  of  battle  in 
rear  of  a  battery,  remaining  in  position  under  a 
heavy  fire  of  shell  for  nearly  an  hour  until 
ordered  to  advance.  General  Rodman  then 
ordered  us  to  advance  to  the  support  of  Stur- 
gis'  command. 

"  We  advanced  to  the  opposite  hill  up  steep 
embankments  under  a  very  severe  fire  from 
the  enemy's  batteries.  Arriving  near  a  stone 
fence  the  enemy  (a  brigade  of  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia  troops)  opened  on  us  with  mus 
ketry.  After  returning  their  fire  I  immediately 
ordered  a  charge,  which  the  whole  brigade  re 
sponded  to,  moving  with  alacrity  and  steadi 
ness. 

"  Arriving  at  the  fence  behind  which  the 
enemy  were  awaiting  us,  receiving  their  fire 


326  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

and  losing  large  numbers  of  men,  we  charged 
over  the  fence  dislodging  them  and  driving 
them  from  their  position  down  the  hill  toward 
the  village. 

"  A  stand  of  rebel  colors  of  a  South  Carolina 
regiment  was  here  captured  by  private  Thomas 
Hare,  Company  D,  89th  New  York,  who  was 
afterward  killed. 

"We  continued  to  pursue  down  the  hill, 
when  finding  the  enemy  massing  fresh  troops 
on  our  left,  I  went  back  and  requested  General 
Rodman  to  bring  up  rapidly  the  second  brigade 
to  our  support,  which  he  did,  they  engaging  the 
enemy,  he  soon  after  falling  badly  wounded. 
The  enemy  were  then  discovered  moving  up 
from  the  cornfield  on  our  left  to  flank  us,  and 
I  ordered  the  brigade  to  retire  about  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  yards  to  the  rear  of  the  position 
we  now  held,  which  movement  was  executed 
in  good  order  and  without  confusion. 

"  The  large  force  advancing  on  our  left  flank 
compelled  us  to  retire  from  the  position,  which 
we  could  have  held  had  we  been  properly 
supported.  We  remained  in  this  position  until 
we  were  positively  ordered  from  the  field,  the 
officers  and  men  regretting  such  a  necessity. 
Great  praise  is  due  Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball 
commanding  the  9th,  Major  Jardine  com 
manding  the  Sgth,  and  Major  Ringgold  com- 


LOSSES  IN  THE  BATTLE.  327 

manding  the  iO3<d  regiment,  for  their  coolness, 
gallantry,  and  bravery  on  the  field  ;  also  to  the 
line  officers  of  the  several  regiments  and  the 
steadiness  of  the  men." 

H.  I.  FAIRCHILD, 

Colonel  8gth  New  York, 

Commanding  ist  Brigade. 

The  dead  bodies  of  54  of  their  comrades 
lying  on  the  field,  with  nearly  200  wounded, 
proved  how  nobly  and  faithfully  the  Zouaves 
fulfilled  their  vows  to  guard  and  protect  their 
regimental  colors  with  their  lives. 

Their  regiment  went  into  action  with  eight 
companies  numbering  373  men,  the  loss  being 
54  killed,  158  wounded,  and  28  missing, 
amounting  to  a  loss  of  64.5  per  cent,  exceeded 
by  only  ten  regiments  out  of  the  more  than 
2,000  regiments  enlisted  on  the  Union  side 
during  the  "War  of  the  Rebellion,"  and  sur 
passed  by  but  one  regiment  from  the  Empire 
State,  which  State  furnished  445,959  men  dur 
ing  that  war. 

To  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  these  figures 
we  quote  from  "  Fox's  Book  of  Regimental 
Losses,"  a  statement  of  the  average  loss  of  life 
in  battle : 

"  Mr.  Kirkley,  the  statistician  of  the  War 
Department,  states  the  death  from  battles  dur- 


328   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

ing  the  Civil  War  at  110,070,  of  which  67,058 
are  classified  as  killed  in  action,  and  43,012  as 
having  died  of  wounds." 

From  this  it  appears  that  on  the  average 
the  mortally  wounded  are  equal  to  64  per  cent, 
of  the  killed. 

The  proportion  of  wounded  to  killed,  where 
the  mortally  wounded  are  included  with  the 
wounded,  is  a  fraction  over  4  to  i.  Where  they 
are  included  with  the  killed,  the  proportion  is 
something  over  2  wounded  to  i  killed.  The 
first  represents  the  common  form  used  in  stat 
ing  the  casualties  at  the  close  of  an  action,  the 
second  the  same  loss,  after  the  number  who 
died  of  wounds  has  been  ascertained  from  the 
muster-out  rolls  and  added  to  the  killed  out 
right,  which  generally  increased  the  number  of 
killed  over  50  per  cent. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  loss  of  the  Ninth  occurred  in  the 
space  of  about  fifteen  minutes,  as  McClellan 
mentions  in  his  report  of  sending  orders  at 
three  o'clock  to  Burnside  to  push  forward  with 
vigor  and  carry  the  enemy's  position  on  the 
heights. 

General  Longstreet,  in  his  book  "  From 
Manassas  to  Appomattox,"  says,  page  240 : 

"  But  the  sanguinary  character  of  this  battle 
is  most  strikingly  exhibited  by  a  comparison  of 


ANTIETAM  COMPARED   WITH  OTHER  BATTLES.  329 

the  accurate  figures  of  the  Federal  losses  re 
turned  specifically  for  the  day.  These  show  a 
total  killed  and  wounded  of  11,657  (or>  m~ 
eluding  the  captured  and  missing,  12,410)  as 
contrasted  with  17,567  killed  and  wounded  in 
three  days  at  Gettysburg,  16,141  in  eight  days 
at  Spottssylvania,  and  14,283  in  the  three  days 
at  the  Wilderness,  while  the  three  and  two 
days'  fighting  respectively  at  Chancellorsville 
and  Chickamauga  were  actually  productive  of 
less  loss  than  this  battle  of  one  day. 

"  The  exceeding  losses  of  this  battle  are 
further  shown  by  the  fact  that  of  the  11,657 
Federals  stricken  on  the  field,  the  great  number 
of  2,108  were  actually  slain — more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  number  killed  in  three  days  at 
Gettysburg  (3,070).  And  this  tremendous 
tumult  of  carnage  was  entirely  compassed  in 
the  brief  hours  from  dawn  to  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon." 

The  brigade  to  which  the  Ninth  was  at 
tached  (Fairchild's)  had  a  total  loss  of  455  in 
killed,  wounded  and  missing,  the  gth  regiment 
losing  240,  or  53  per  cent,  of  the  brigade  loss, 
the  regimental  loss  being  64.5  per  cent. 


CHAPTER   XL 

RETREAT  OF  THE  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA— APA 
THY  OF  FIFTH  CORPS— CAMPING  ON  THE  ANTIETAM 
—  RECRUITS  FOR  THE  NINTH  — THEIR  RECEPTION 
AND  TREATMENT  BY  LIEUTENANT-COLONEL  KIM- 
BALL  AND  HIS  TRIBUTE  TO  THE  OLD  REGIMENT- 
CAPTAIN  WHITING  —  VISIT  FROM  PRESIDENT  LIN 
COLN  —  THE  LOAVES  AND  THE  GOOD  ZOUAVES  - 
HOSPITAL  ARRANGEMENTS  —  THE  BAND  PLAYS 
"ANNIE  LAURIE"  FOR  THE  SICK  MEN— PROMOTION 
OF  SURGEON  HUMPHREYS  —  ACROSS  ELK  RIDGE 
TO  PLEASANT  VALLEY  —  "  TENTING  ON  THE  OLD 
CAMP  GROUND." 

ON  the  following  morning  it  was  seen  that 
the  army  of  Northern  Virginia  was  still 
in  position  with  its  front  well  covered  with  skir 
mishers  who  were  at  times  quite  aggressive. 
The  remnant  of  the  Ninth  was  ordered  on  the 
skirmish  line  and  were  several  times  during 
the  day  quite  sharply  engaged.  The  regiment 
continued  to  act  in  this  capacity  until  about 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when  it  was  with 
drawn  and  went  into  bivouac. 

The  activity  on  the  part  of  the  enemy's  skir 
mishers  was  thought  by  many  of  the   men  in 


RE  TREA  T  OF  LE&S  ARMY.  3  3  1 

the  Union  army  to  be  for  the  purpose  of  con 
cealing  important  movements  in  their  main 
body,  and  it  was  learned  later  that  they  were 
busily  preparing  for  their  withdrawal  from  their 
position  and  across  the  Potomac,  which  move 
ment  was  successfully  accomplished  that  same 
night  notwithstanding  the  presence  of  the  eighty 
or  ninety  thousand  men  of  McClellan's  army. 

Among  the  troops,  on  the  left  of  the  Federal 
line  at  least,  it  was  a  matter  of  wonder  why 
they  remained  so  comparatively  inactive,  only 
resisting  the  aggressive  action  of  the  enemy's 
skirmishers,  instead  of  "  going  in  "  and  renew 
ing  the  battle  in  earnest.  It  was  a  matter  quite 
generally  discussed  among  officers  and  enlisted 
men,  and  it  was  the  almost  unanimous  opinion 
among  them  that  Lee's  army  could  be  com 
pletely  destroyed  if  active  operations  were  re 
sumed  at  once  and  carried  out  with  spirit  and 
determination,  and  at  a  loss  that  would  be  in 
significant  as  compared  with  that  of  the  day 
before.  Now,  after  the  lapse  of  years,  and  with 
the  knowledge  we  possess  concerning  the  con 
dition  of  each  army,  it  is  incomprehensible  why 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  not  pushed  for 
ward  vigorously  and  Lee's  army  utterly  de 
stroyed  or  captured. 

The  whole  fifth  army  corps  had  been  held  in 
reserve  all  day  on  the  iyth.  They  had  not 


332   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

been  engaged  with  the  enemy,  nor  does  it  ap 
pear  that  they  had  been  used  for  any  military 
purpose  whatever  either  during  or  after  the 
battle.  To  the  ordinary  citizen  soldier,  not 
especially  educated  and  trained  for  the  profes 
sion  of  arms,  it  seemed  that  troops  held  in 
reserve  should  be  so  held  for  a  purpose  and 
with  specific  objects  in  view.  That  after 
the  enemy  had  been  shattered  and  weakened 
by  successive,  and  more  or  less  successful 
attacks,  the  reserves  should  be  pushed  forward 
and  the  destruction  of  the  enemy's  line,  already 
wavering,  be  completed  and  the  victory  made 
sure;  or  that,  in  the  event  of  disaster  and  re 
pulse,  it  should  be  used  to  cover  the  retreat  of 
the  rest  of  the  army.  This  latter  contingency 
was  not  present  on  the  Union  side  at  any  time 
during  the  battle  of  Antietam,  and  in  regard  to 
the  former,  this  splendid  fifth  corps,  the  admira 
tion  of  every  West  Pointer  in  the  army,  which 
comprised  within  its  ranks  all  the  regular  troops 
in  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  did  not  pull  a 
trigger  all  that  day.  Lee's  army  had  been  so 
broken  and  beaten  that  day  that  Longstreet 
afterwards  described  its  condition  at  the  con 
clusion  of  the  fight  as  being  "  torn  into  tatters." 
Still  the  opposing  commanders  permitted  an 
army  in  that  condition  to  retire  and  cross  a 
difficult  river  without  molesting  it.  The  corps 


NEGLECTED  OPPORTUNITIES.  333 

to  which  the  Zouaves  belonged,  the  Ninth,  is 
said  to  have  numbered  about  fifteen  thousand 
men  of  all  arms.  Some  of  its  brigades  had 
sustained  comparatively  little  loss — not  enough 
to  seriously  impair  their  effectiveness — and  most 
of  them  were  certainly  in  a  condition  to  be 
pushed  forward  at  the  critical  moment.  That 
moment  arrived  on  their  part  of  the  field  when 
Fairchild's  brigade  broke  the  enemy's  right  and 
drove  his  scattered  soldiers  into  the  village  of 
Sharpsburg.  Hill's  attack  on  the  flank  of  Fair- 
child's  advancing  brigade,  and  on  the  left  of 
the  line,  would  have  amounted  to  even  less  than 
it  did  had  a  fresh  brigade  of  infantry  been 
thrown  forward  to  oppose  him  when  it  was 
first  made.  It  is  now  known  that  he  had  only 
about  twenty-five  hundred  men  left  in  his  com 
mand  after  the  forced  march  from  Harper's 
Ferry,  while  there  was  force  enough  unengaged 
in  the  Ninth  corps  alone  to  brush  him  off  the 
field  with  very  little  trouble. 

This  is  not  the  place,  however,  nor  is  it  the 
intention  of  the  writer  of  this  chronicle  of  the 
Ninth  Regiment  to  enter  into  any  extended 
criticism  of  military  movements  and  operations, 
or  to  attempt  to  record  anything  that  does  not 
pertain  particularly  to  the  regiment  and  is  ne 
cessary  to  describe  its  services  while  in  the  field. 

On  the  i  gth  the  regiment  moved  about  six 


334    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

miles  and  established  a  camp  on  the  bank  of 
the  Antietam  where  the  regular  routine  of  army 
life,  drills,  parades,  etc.,  was  again  resumed. 

At  about  this  date  a  large  body  of  recruits, 
that  had  been  specially  enlisted  for  the  regiment, 
was  received  from  New  York.  The  exact  num 
ber  cannot  now  be  given,  but  there  were  enough 
of  them  to  double  at  least  the  then  effective 
strength  of  the  command.  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Kimball's  reception  and  treatment  of  them  was 
decidedly  original.  To  simply  say  that  he  was 
proud  of  the  regiment,  especially  after  the  way 
the  men  had  behaved  in  the  late  battle,  the 
unflinching  courage  they  had  shown  even  after 
their  number  had  been  reduced  by  the  fire  of 
the  enemy  to  less  than  a  hundred  men,  does 
not  fully  describe  his  feelings  toward  them. 

The  newly  arrived  recruits  were  regularly 
assigned  to  the  various  companies  and  they 
began  to  receive  instructions  in  their  duties 
and  practice  in  the  drill  and  manual  as  was 
usual,  but  Kimball  would  not  at  first  permit 
them  to  parade  in  the  ranks  with  the  other  men 
upon  occasions  of  ceremony.  He  did  not  con 
sider  it  proper  to  permit  raw  recruits  to  become 
at  once  fully  privileged  members  of  such  a 
regiment  as  the  Ninth.  On  two  or  three  occa 
sions  after  the  evening  parades  had  been 
resumed  (which  was  some  days  after  the  battle) 


HOW  KIMBAL'L  RECEIVED  THE  RECRUITS.       335 

he  caused  them  to  be  separated  from  the  other 
men  and  formed  in  a  battalion  and  drawn  up  in 
a  position  from  which  there  was  a  good  view 
of  the  dress-parade  and  where  they  easily  could 
see  the  various  details  of  the  ceremony  and 
observe  the  general  appearance  of  the  men,  and 
the  style  of  the  regiment.  He  explained  to 
them  that  it  would  be  out  of  place  to  permit 
new  and  untried  men  to  parade  with,  and  at 
once  become  part  of,  such  a  regiment,  and  that 
he  wished  to  give  them  the  opportunity  to 
study  the  command  to  which  they  had  been 
assigned.  He  informed  them  that  they  must 
consider  themselves  very  fortunate  in  getting 
into  the  best  regiment  in  the  service  and  in 
sharing  the  honor  that  regiment  had  already 
gained.  He  also  directed  them  to  look  at  the 
boys  and  to  remember  that  they  were  the 
remnant  of  a  gallant  organization  that  had,  in 
obedience  to  orders,  advanced  against  a  greatly 
superior  force  of  infantry  supported  by  three 
batteries  of  artillery,  and  that  they  had  con 
tinued  unhesitatingly  and  unflinchingly  to  "  obey 
the  orders  of  the  officers  appointed  over  them," 
which  orders  on  that  occasion  had  been  simply 
''forward,"  and  this  while  being  constantly 
decimated  by  the  enemy's  fire,  and  that  after 
having  left  sixty-five  per  cent,  of  Ltheir  number 
dead  and  wounded  on  the  ground,  they  had 


336   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

dislodged  a  brigade  of  the  enemy  from  a  strong 
position  which  they  then  occupied  and  had  held 
the  ground  until  positively  ordered  away  by 
superior  authority.  He  assured  the  recruits 
that  they  had  honor  reflected  upon  them  by 
simply  belonging  to  such  a  regiment,  and  that 
it  was  a  privilege  which  they  should  not  under 
estimate  to  be  in  a  position  to  claim  these  men 
as  comrades.  Continuing,  he  said  he  was  not 
sure  that  he  would  be  justified  in  permitting 
new  and  untried  men  to  take  their  places,  just 
yet,  in  the  ranks  of  a  regiment  with  such  an  ex 
ceptionally  honorable  record,  where  they  (the 
recruits)  would  be  mistaken  by  the  ordinary  ob- 
'server,  for  the  men  who  had  participated  in  the 
"  Charge  of  the  Ninth  New  York  at  Antietam." 
Their  future  conduct,  he  said,  would  determine 
his  course  in  reference  to  that.  He  hoped  they 
would  soon  have  an  opportunity  to  show  what 
kind  of  soldiers  they  would  make  and  when  the 
time  did  come,  whether  soon  or  late,  he  hoped 
and  almost  believed  that  they  would  prove 
they  were  not  unworthy  of  standing  in  the 
ranks  with  the  old  men  of  the  Ninth  Regiment. 
Of  course  some  of  the  old  boys  heard  this 
harangue  and  all  of  them  sooner  or  later  heard 
about  it.  It  pleased  them  greatly  to  learn  that 
the  uold  man"  had  such  a  good  opinion  of 
them,  and  was  so  proud  of  their  behavior  in  the 


A  RUDE  AWAKENING.  337 

recent  battle.  There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt 
that  the  incident  had  a  very  beneficial  and  ele 
vating  effect  on  both  veteran  and  recruit. 
There  can  be  very  little  doubt  that  the  object 
he  had  in  view  was  to  strengthen  the  esprit  de 
corps  among  the  older  men  and  to  inspire  the 
new  ones  with  a  desire  to  show  themselves 
worthy  of  any  regiment  or  of  any  cause,  and, 
as  on  another  occasion,  when  the  regiment  was 
going  into  action  at  Roanoke  Island,  where  his 
remarks  to  the  men  were  somewhat  differently 
worded,  but  with  the  same  end  in  view,  there  is 
no  doubt  his  object  was  attained. 

The  world  contains  men  of  all  kinds  and 
characters.  Their  diversity  was  as  great  among 
the  Zouaves  as  elsewhere  under  similar  condi 
tions.  Some  of  a  certain  kind  thought  they  saw 
in  the  Lieutenant-Colonel's  remarks  to  the  re 
cruits  indications  of  an  approaching  change  in 
his  manner  of  governing  the  regiment.  Prob 
ably  some  of  them  even  went  so  far  as  to  im 
agine  that  hereafter  the  "  old  man"  would  fra 
ternize  with  them,  and  would  be  likely  to  call  a 
meeting  of  the  regiment  and  put  it  to  a  vote  to 
determine  the  advisability  of  executing  an  order 
or  performing  a  military  duty  -  -  to  simulate  a 
sort  of  town  meeting.  But  they  were  woefully 
mistaken,  for  on  the  first  sign  of  carelessness  or 
inattention  to  the  slightest  detail  of  duty,  they 


338    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

were  rudely  and  suddenly  awakened  to  a  rea 
lization  that  they  had  been  dreaming,  that  the 
old  rule  of  discipline --constant  and  rigid  dis 
cipline-- under  all  conditions  and  at  all  times 
still  prevailed. 

While  the  regiment  was  encamped  at  this 
place  Colonel  Hawkins  returned  from  leave  of 
absence.  Upon  reporting  for  duty  he  was  as 
signed  to  the  command  of  the  division,  which 
was  the  3d  Division  of  the  gth  Corps.  The 
command  of  a  division  is,  under  ordinary  cir 
cumstances,  that  of  a  major-general,  but  the 
scarcity  of  officers  just  then,  due  principally  to 
the  exceptionally  large  number  killed  and 
wounded  during  the  battle  of  the  iyth,  made 
it  necessary  to  assign  the  surviving  officers  to 
a  much  larger  command  than  their  grade  would 
entitle  them  to  under  ordinary  conditions. 

Colonel  Hawkins  ranked  as  colonel  from  the 
4th  of  May,  1861,  which  in  all  probability  made 
him  at  that  time  and  subsequently  until  the 
muster-out  of  the  regiment,  the  ranking  colonel 
in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

From  the  date  of  the  occupation  of  Hatteras 
by  the  regiment  until  the  expiration  of  its  term 
of  service,  the  Colonel  always  commanded  a 
larger  sub-division  of  the  army  than  a  regiment. 
The  only  exception  to  this  was  during  the 
Roanoke  Island  campaign,  when  the  Ninth  was 


CHANGES  AMONG  THE  OFFICERS.  339 

attached  to  the  brigade  of  General  Parke,  Colo 
nel  Hawkins  being  in  command  of  his  own 
regiment.  In  the  absence  of  the  colonel  as 
brigade  division  or  post  commander,  the  senior 
field  officer  present  with  the  regiment  was  the 
commanding  officer.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Betts 
performed  this  duty  until  his  resignation,  when 
he  was  succeeded  by  Kimball,  first  as  major, 
and  afterwards  as  lieutenant-colonel.  This 
will  serve  to  explain  why  the  name  of  Kim- 
ball  so  often  appears  as  the  commanding  offi 
cer.  He  was  so  in  fact. 

About  this  time  Captain  Whiting,  of  Com 
pany  K,  resigned  his  commission.  His  loss 
was  much  regretted  by  nearly  every  one  in  the 
regiment,  especially  by  the  men  of  his  own 
company.  He  had  always  shown  himself  to  be 
a  good  officer.  He  was  a  strict  disciplinarian, 
but  kind  and  considerate  toward  his  men,  while 
his  conduct  in  battle  left  nothing  to  be  desired. 

Lieutenant  Richard  Morris,  of  the  same  com 
pany,  was  promoted  to  the  vacancy  and  became 
captain  of  the  company.  He  had  developed  an 
extraordinary  aptitude  in  the  handling  of  bat 
teries,  proving  himself  a  natural  artillerist.  His 
skill  attracted  the  notice  of  his  superior  officers 
and  he  became  well  known  throughout  the 
whole  corps  as  a  marvelously  accurate  shot, 
either  with  a  field-piece  or  a  siege  gun. 


340   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

On  the  236  of  the  month  Company  K  was,  by 
order  of  General  Burnside,  detached  from  the 
regiment  and  directed  to  report  to  the  com 
manding  officer  at  Harper's  Ferry,  when  it  was 
assigned  to  a  position  on  Bolivar  Heights. 

On  the  26th  the  camp  of  the  regiment  was 
moved  about  six  miles  to  a  location  near  the 
Antietam  Iron  Works.  It  was  a  much  better 
place  for  a  permanent  camp  than  the  former 
one.  There  was  an  abundance  of  good  water 
for  all  purposes,  and  in  addition  other  advan 
tages,  such  as  convenience  to  transportation 
facilities,  etc.,  which  the  old  camp  did  not 
possess.  Rations  began  to  be  issued  here  in 
quantities  somewhat  approaching  the  regular 
army  allowance.  Fresh  meat  and  fresh  vegeta 
bles  were  included  in  the  issues,  and  the  men 
of  the  regiment  had  the  first  opportunity  to 
fully  satisfy  their  hunger  that  they  had  enjoyed 
since  the  advance  guard'  of  the  army  first  struck 
the  enemy's  rear  east  of  Monocacy  Ridge  on 
the  gth  or  lothof  September. 

President  Lincoln  visited  the  army  while  the 
Ninth  was  in  camp  here.  On  the  3d  of  October 
the  regiment  had  the  honor  of  being  reviewed 
by  him.  The  men  were  very  proud  of  it,  and 
each  one  did  his  very  best  to  aid  the  regiment 
in  making  the  best  appearance  possible  before 
the  chief  magistrate.  The  President  seemed 


PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  IN  CAMP.  34 1 

very  much  pleased  with  what  he  saw,  and  was 
quite  complimentary — almost  flattering — in  his 
comments  on  the  regiment,  on  its  proficiency 
in  drill,  on  its  general  style,  its  movements  and 
its  marchings.  This  was  extremely  gratifying 
to  both  officers  and  men,  especially  as  his 
remarks  were  made  to,  or  in  the  presence  and 
hearing  of  a  number  of  prominent  personages, 
generals  included,  who  had  attended  him  at  the 
review.  ^It  is  well  known  that  commendation 
is  to  a  soldier,  as  indeed  it  is  to  nearly  every 
one,  the  very  breath  of  life.  Honorable  men 
tion  in  an  order  or  a  report,  the  simple  saying 
of  "  well  done  "  by  a  superior,  repays  him  for 
any  risks  run  or  any  task  attempted. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  relate  an  incident 
which  occurred  here  in  the  presence  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  which  will  show  to  the  reader  how  the 
varied  experiences  of  soldiers  in  camp  and 
field  taught  them  to  be  prompt  to  act  and 
resourceful  in  expedient  at  all  times  and  under 
all  circumstances. 

As  a  mild  apology  for  what  follows  the  writer 
desires  to  explain  that  ever  since  the  manoeu 
vring  and  fighting  which  led  up  to  the  battles 
of  South  Mountain  and  Antietam  began,  food 
had  been  so  scarce  that  the  men  had  continued 
in  a  state  of  ravenous  hunger.  While  every 
road  in  the  territory  over  which  two  armies  are 


342    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

marching,  manoeuvring  and  skirmishing  pre 
paratory  to  engaging  in  a  great  battle  is  for 
days  fully  occupied  by  the  moving  troops,  or 
reserved  to  be  used  for  the  rapid  transfer  of 
regiments  and  batteries  to  critical  points  as 
they  may  be  needed,  the  quartermaster's  trains 
are  compelled  to  hover  on  the  fringe  of  the 
army.  Occasionally  some  quartermaster  will 
push  in  in  the  night  with  one  or  more  wagons, 
and  if  fortunate  enough  to  find  his  command, 
will  replenish  the  empty  haversacks  with  more 
or  less  hardtack.  But  they  seldom  succeed  in 
their  efforts  to  do  this.  Generally  there  is  con 
siderable  suffering  from  hunger.  This  condi 
tion  still  continues  for  some  days  after  the 
battle  has  been  fought.  Then  every  energy  is 
exerted  in  caring  for  the  wounded  and  in 
bringing  up  ammunition  to  fill  the  empty  ammu 
nition  chests  and  cartridge  boxes.  This  last 
takes  precedence  of  everything.  The  battle 
may  be  renewed  at  any  moment,  and  without  a 
sufficient  supply  of  cartridges  the  army  is  lost. 
It  is  a  very  difficult  matter  to  get  anything  to 
eat  at  such  times,  The  living — if  the  opportu 
nity  offers — empty  the  haversacks  of  the  dead 
and  the  neighboring  fields  are  scoured  in 
search  of  corn,  potatoes  or  anything  that  can 
be  cooked  for  food. 

As  soon  as  the  beaten  army  retreats  and  it 


AN  UNWELCOME  INTERRUPTION.  343 

becomes  comparatively  safe  to  move  about 
again,  the  commercial  spirit  suddenly  awakes 
and  the  wagons  of  the  sutler  fill  the  land.  Not 
alone  the  army  sutler,  but  men  from  near  and 
far  —  and  women  also  at  times -- appear  in  the 
various  camps  offering  eatables  for  sale,  bread 
being  the  staple. 

One  morning,  during  the  time  the  President 
was  on  his  visit  to  the  army,  several  of  the 
Zouaves  found  themselves  part  of  a  crowd  of 
soldiers  surrounding  a  wagon  loaded  with 
bread  which  was  being  peddled  along  the  road. 
Some  of  the  soldiers  in  the  crowd  had  money 
and  bought,  but,  alas,  some  of  them  had  none, 
and  still  they  wanted  the  bread.  To  want  and 
to  have  are  sometimes  very  closely  allied  in 
the  army,  so  a  linch-pin  was  slipped  out,  a 
wheel  removed,  and  the  whole  load  upset  in 
the  road.  A  general  scramble  was  made  for 
the  scattered  loaves  and  when  the  tumult  was 
at  its  height  General  Burnside's  carriage,  in 
which  he  was  escorting  the  President  on  a  visit 
to  one  of  the  camps  in  the  vicinity,  suddenly 
appeared  in  the  midst  of  it.  The  occupants  of 
the  carriage  were  instantly  recognized  and  as  a 
result  the  raiders  scattered  in  every  direction, 
each  man,  however,  clinging  tightly  to  his 
stolen  loaf  and  endeavoring  to  put  as  much 
ground  between  himself  and  the  carriage  in  as 


344   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

short  a  period  of  time  as  possible,  in  the  hope 
that  the  letters  and  numbers  denoting  his  com 
pany,  regiment,  and  State  would  not  be  noted. 
Each  of  the  Zouaves  instead  of  taking  to  flight 
like  guilty  things  upon  recognizing  the  occu 
pants  of  the  vehicle,  as  if  moved  by  a  common 
impulse,  released  the  loaf  which  had  been  hid 
den  under  his  blouse,  permitted  it  to  fall  to  the 
ground  at  his  feet,  and  assuming  as  uncon 
cerned  an  expression  of  countenance  as  was 
possible  under  the  circumstances,  drew  himself 
up  and  assuming  the  most  approved  "  position 
of  a  soldier"  received  the  distinguished,  but 
nevertheless  at  that  time  unwelcome,  visitors 
with  a  profound  military  salute. 

Burnside  who  had  seen  what  was  going  on 
while  the  carriage  was  still  some  distance  from 
the  wrecked  wagon  began  shouting  at  the  men 
to  cease  their  outrageous  conduct.  In  fact  they 
were  so  intent  on  the  business  in  hand  that 
had  it  not  been  for  this  shouting  he  could  pro 
bably  have  driven  right  into  the  midst  of  the 
crowd  before  they  would  have  noticed  him. 

As  the  raiders  scattered  over  the  fields  the 
General  at  first  shouted  after  them  to  come 
back ;  but  no,  no !  He  then  turned  to  the 
group  of  expressionless  but  innocent  looking 
Zouaves  standing  "at  attention  "  on  the  side  of 
the  road,  and  with  a  great  deal  of  gesticulation 


THE  GOOD  ZOUAVES.  345 

and  with  considerable  show  of  excitement, 
commanded  "Go  after  those  men  and  bring 
them  back  !  You  New  York  men  -  -  you  Zou 
aves — go  after  those  men ;  arrest  them  !  Bring 
them  back  here!" 

The  President  neither  said  or  did  anything 
to  indicate  that  he  was  especially  interested  in 
the  affair,  he  simply  looked  on. 

Some  of  the  boys  thought  the  General  rather 
overdid  the  thing,  but  they  all  started  after  the 
fleeing  culprits  with  a  great  show  of  zeal  and  in 
a  few  minutes  each  one  had  overtaken  and  laid 
hands  on  a  robber  and  brought  him  back  to 
where  the  General  was  awaiting  them. 

Burnside  berated  them  soundly  using  de 
cidedly  pointed  and  vigorous  language  in 
doing  it.  He  was  astounded  he  said  to  learn 
that  he  had  such  men  in  his  command  ;  that 
the  army  contained  men  who  had  profited  so 
little  by  the  teachings  of  discipline  and  who 
would  so  openly  and  shamelessly  disobey 
orders.  He  nearly  overwhelmed,  with  modest 
confusion,  the  meek  and  diffident  looking  Zou 
aves  when  he  pointed  to  them  as  examples  of 
what  good  soldiers  were  and  informed  the 
crestfallen  prisoners  that  here  were  men  who 
would  never  so  far  demean  themselves  and  dis 
grace  their  uniforms  as  to  rob  a  poor  peddler  of 
bread  just  because  they  happened  at  the 


346  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

moment  to  feel  a  little  hungry.  He  finished 
by  ordering  the  captors  to  turn  their  prisoners 
over  to  the  provost  guard.  This,  like  good 
soldiers  who  always  obey  orders,  they  did. 
But  they  also  reasoned  that  the  probabilities 
were  that  more  important  matters  would  soon 
cause  the  General  to  forget  this  little  affair,  so, 
when  the  provost  officer  asked  for  information 
as  to  what  the  charges  against  the  prisoners 
were,  they  informed  him  that  they  "  didn't 
know,"  that  General  Burnside  had  directed 
them  to  turn  them  over  to  the  provost  guard, 
and  that  they  thought  it  was  for  "  straggling." 
Then  with  mixed  feeling  of  sadness  and  ela 
tion,  sadness  at  the  loss  of  the  "  soft  tack  "  they 
still  longed  for,  and  elation  because  of  the 
good  but  mistaken  opinion  General  Burnside 
had  expressed  in  reference  to  their  soldierly 
qualities,  etc.,  and  because  they  had  been  en 
abled  to  have  such  a  close  view  and,  they  might 
say,  protracted  interview  with  the  President  of 
the  nation,  they  betook  themselves  to  the 
regimental  camp  to  relate  their  adventure  and 
embelish  the  same  each  according  to  his  own 
fancy. 

The  various  changes  of  camp  that  had  been 
made  since  the  day  of  the  battle  had  contin 
ually  removed  the  regiment  farther  away  from 
the  hospital  where  its  wounded  were. 


VISITING  THE  WOUNDED.  347 

About  the  time  the  last  change  of  camp  had 
taken  place  the  wounded  had  also  been  col 
lected  and  taken  to  a  division  hospital  which 
had  been  established  several  miles  in  a  direc 
tion  opposite  to  the  one  taken  by  the  regiment. 
This  made  visiting  the  wounded  a  matter  of 
considerable  difficulty,  both  on  account  of  time 
and  distance,  and  was  a  serious  hardship  to 
both  the  wounded  and  those  on  duty.  Brothers 
wished  to  see  brothers,  and  friends  and  tent- 
mates  were  desirous  of  visiting  and  convers 
ing  with  the  wounded  companions  with  whom 
they  had  marched  and  tented.  There  was  no 
company  in  the  regiment  but  had  more  than 
one  set  of  brothers  in  it,  and  in  many  in 
stances  some  of  them  were  wounded  while 
some  escaped  uninjured.  In  Company  H,  out 
of  the  three  brothers  Johnston,  David  was  killed 
on  the  field,  John  died  of  his  wounds  in  hos 
pital,  and  Robert  came  out  uninjured.  In 
Company  A,  of  the  two  Van  Cotts  and  two 
Stages,  one  of  each  was  wounded  and  one 
escaped.  This  was  also  the  case  with  the 
Rassigas  of  Company  C,  and  probably  every 
company  in  the  regiment  had  similar  cases. 
It  can  easily  be  understood  from  these  exam 
ples  how  anxious  the  majority  of  the  well  men 
were  to  visit,  or  at  least  hear,  regularly  from 
the  hospital. 


348   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

During  and  immediately  after  the  battle  the 
wounded  were  gathered  together  for  treatment 
at  the  most  convenient  places,  which  were  in 
nearly  every  instance  the  various  farmhouses 
on  the  field  and  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  it. 
Surgeon  Humphreys  first  established  his  field 
hospital  at  a  point  near  Burnside's  Bridge, 
When  later  in  the  day  the  rebel  batteries 
opened  fire  on  the  bridge,  with  the  object  of 
preventing  or  delaying  the  crossing  of  troops, 
it  proved  to  be  in  direct  range  and  was  sub 
jected  to  a  heavy  fire.  A  good  many  casualties 
occurred  among  the  wounded  from  this  cause. 
Humphreys  sent  them  away  as  quickly  as  he 
could,  and  the  first  suitable  placed  reached  was 
Miller's  house.  This  was  taken  possession  of 
and  was  soon  filled  with  men  having  wounds 
of  all  kinds  and  degrees.  Not  only  the  dwell 
ing  but  all  the  outhouses,  sheds  and  other 
shelters  were  filled,  while  the  orchard,  door- 
yard  and  barnyard  were  crowded  with  them, 
both  Union  and  Confederate.  These  men  out 
side  were  obliged  to  lie  on  the  ground  with 
absolutely  no  protection  of  any  kind.  Most  of 
them  without  even  blankets  under  them,  and 
no  roof  save  the  blue  sky  over  any  of  them. 
They,  however,  appeared  to  do  better ;  their 
progress  toward  convalescence  was  more  rapid, 
and  there  were  fewer  deaths  among  them  (other 


THE  LONG  TRAMP  TO  THE  HOSPITAL.  349 

things  being  equal)  than  among  those  in  the 
house.  Surgeon  Humphreys  was  so  impressed 
with  this  fact  that  he  seriously  contemplated 
removing  all  his  wounded  to  the  open  air. 

In  the  early  part  of  October  tents  were 
erected  at  a  placed  called  Locust  Spring  and 
a  division  hospital  established  there.  The 
wounded  from  Miller's  house  and  grounds 
were  transferred  to  the  new  location.  Not 
withstanding  the  distance  between  the  regi 
ment  and  this  hospital  the  men  still  continued 
to  get  passes  from  camp  and  take  the  long 
tramp  to  visit  their  suffering  comrades.  None 
of  the  boys  had  anything  to  bring,  and  had  no 
way  of  procuring  anything  that  would  add  to 
the  comfort  of  the  patients.  All  they  had  to 
offer  was  sympathy  and  cheering  words.  It 
was  affecting  and  sometimes  a  little  comical  to 
observe  the  means  taken  by  some  of  the  vis 
itors  to  cheer  up  the  others.  Like  Traddles 
drawing  skeletons  for  David  Copperfield,  to 
cheer  him  up  when  he  learned  of  his  mother's 
death. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball  marched  the  reg 
imental  band  all  the  way  from  camp  one  Sun 
day  to  play  for  the  sick  boys.  They  gave  their 
best  selections  of  marching  tunes  and  other 
music  and  devoted  several  hours  to  alternately 
playing  and  visiting  from  bed  to  bed,  or  to  be 


35O   NIN'IH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

more  correct,  from  man  to  man,  as  there  were 
no  beds,  all  the  men  lying  on  the  ground  or  on 
such  makeshift  protection  from  direct  contact 
with  mother  earth  as  the  soldier  nurses  could 
improvise  out  of  the  materials  within  reach. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball  and  several  com 
missioned  officers,  together  with  a  number  of 
enlisted  men,  accompanied  the  band  on  this 
occasion.  Their  presence  had  a  good  effect  on 
the  wounded  boys,  who  kept  them  busy  an 
swering  questions  about  the  regiment.  The 
regiment  appeared  to  be  uppermost  in  the 
thoughts  of  each  of  them.  They  wanted  to 
know  how  it  looked  on  parade ;  what  number 
of  men  were  present  for  duty ;  what  kind  of  a 
camp  they  had ;  what  Burnside  and  the  other 
generals  had  said  in  their  reports  in  relation  to 
the  charge  of  the  regiment  in  the  battle,  and  a 
hundred  similar  questions.  It  was  always  the 
regiment :  its  welfare,  its  esprit  de  corps  and  its 
standing  and  reputation  in  the  corps  and  in  the 
army. 

About  this  time  Surgeon  Humphreys  was 
ordered  on  duty  with  the  troops  to  act  as  divis 
ion  surgeon.  While  the  boys  were  pleased  to 
hear  of  his  advance  in  rank  and  gratified  that 
his  worth  as  a  man,  and  his  professional  skill 
as  a  surgeon  were  recognized  and  rewarded  by 
the  military  authorities,  still  they  did  not  like 


CROSSING  ELK  RIDGE.  351 

to  see  him  go.  Each  man  in  the  regiment  re 
posed  the  utmost  confidence  in  his  skill  and 
judgment,  and  the  wounded  had  perfect  faith  in 
his  ability  to  "  pull  them  through."  Therefore, 
the  knowledge  that  he  was  ordered  away  caused 
considerable  uneasiness  among  them. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Squires,  Chief  Sur 
geon  of  the  8gth  New  York,  a  regiment  of  their 
own  brigade.  He  proved  to  be  a  sympathetic 
man,  a  good  surgeon  and  an  excellent  executive 
officer. 

On  October  yth  the  regiment  again  broke 
camp,  crossed  the  mountain  called  Elk  Ridge, 
and  went  into  camp  in  Pleasant  Valley.  The 
climb  over  the  mountain  was  an  arduous  one 
and  somewhat  trying  on  the  men,  as  they  were 
in  heavy  marching  order  and  the  way  was  rough 
and  steep.  They  were  repaid,  however,  in  a 
measure,  by  the  view,  which,  broadening  and 
changing  as  they  ascended,  opened  to  them  a 
more  beautiful  and  varied  panorama  than  it  had 
been  the  fortune  of  many  of  these  city-bred  boys 
to  have  viewed  before.  The  whole  country  lay 
spread  below  them  like  a  picture,  the  undula 
tions  softened  and  the  landscape  beautified  by 
distance.  The  villages  of  Sharpesburg,  Kee- 
dysville  and  Boonsboro  appeared  like  collec 
tions  of  toy  houses  and  churches,  while  the 
scattered  farmhouses,  each  nestling  beside  its 


352    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

grove  or  orchard,  assisted  in  completing  a 
picture  of  a  peaceful  pastoral  scene  which  was 
gratifying  to  the  eye  of  these  men  so  far  sepa 
rated  from  home  and  peace.  It  was  hard  to 
realize  that  only  a  few  days  since  nearly  two 
hundred  thousand  men  had  striven  here  in 
mortal  combat. 

The  newr  camp  now  occupied  was  found  to 
be  very  favorably  located  and  excellent  in 
almost  every  respect.  It  was  situated  on  the 
main  road  and  had  good  terminal  facilities.  A 
fine  stream  of  water  flowed  conveniently  near, 
always  a  welcome  as  well  as  a  necessary  ad 
junct  to  a  camp.  The  weather  was  now  getting 
quite  cold,  especially  at  night,  and  shelter  tents 
were  the  only  protection  the  men  had.  Rations 
were  still  deplorably  insufficient,  causing  much 
inconvenience  and  some  suffering. 

The  regiment  remained  in  camp  in  Pleasant 
Valley  until  the  28th  of  the  month.  In  the 
meantime  Major  Jardine  had  been  relieved  from 
the  command  of  the  8gih  New  York,  to  which 
he  had  been  assigned  at  the  opening  of  the 
campaign,  and  had  returned  to  duty  with  the 
regiment.  Lieutenant  Bartholemew,  of  Com 
pany  B,  had,  since  the  battle,  been  appointed 
adjutant.  The  regular  everyday  routine  of 
camp  life,  drills,  guard-mounts,  and  parades 
was  being-  followed  when,  on  the  28th  of  Oc- 


AGAIN  ON  THE  MARCH.  353 

tober,  the  "  general  "  was  again  sounded,  and 
tents  were  struck  and  the  regiment  started  on 
the  march  after  Lee  and  the  army  of  Northern 
Virginia,  which  ended  just  one  month  later  at 
the  old  campground  of  the  preceding  summer, 
opposite  the  city  of  Fredricksburg,  Va. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

CLOTHING  AND  CAMP  EQUIPPAGE  LEFT  AT  MERIDIAN 
HILL  —  CLEANLINESS  —  KNAPSACKS  RECOVERED  - 
KNAPSACK  DRILL  — HUNGER,  COLD  AND  MARCHING 
—  THREE  COLUMNS  ABREAST  —  COMPANY  G  AS 
HEADQUARTER'S  GUARD  —  COMPANY  K  JOINS  GEN 
ERAL  KAUTZ— GENERAL  BURNSIDE  RELIEVES  GEN 
ERAL  McCLELLAN  OF  THE  COMMAND  OF  THE  ARMY 
—  SCATTERING  A  QUARTERMASTER'S  TRAIN—  GOOD 
ARTILLERY  SHOOTING  —  THANKSGIVING  DAY  AT 
FALMOUTH— BATTLE  OF  FREDRICKSBURG— STRAGG 
LERS  —  WINTER  QUARTERS  IN  VIRGINIA  —  ON  TO 
FORTRESS  MONROE. 

EVER  since  the  opening  of  the  campaign  on 
September  yth,  all  the  knapsacks  belong 
ing  to  the  regiment,  together  with  the  company 
property,  had  lain  piled  together  under  the 
trees  of  Meridian  Hill,  covered  with  tarpaulins, 
unguarded  and  at  the  mercy  of  those  "whom 
it  might  concern."  Consequently  neither  offi 
cers  nor  men  had  opportunity  to  change  under 
clothing.  Each  man's  wardrobe  consisted  of 
just  what  he  stood  in.  The  only  article  of  extra 
raiment  provided  was  for  the  feet  and  nearly 
every  man  carried  an  extra  pair  of  socks  in  his 


LAUNDRY  WORK  UNDER  DIFFICULTIES.          355 

blanket  roll.  Some  men  were  naturally  im 
provident  and  also  inclined  to  be  careless  of 
personal  cleanliness.  These  soon  learned  from 
experience  on  the  long  marches  how  necessary 
for  their  comfort  was  a  due  regard  for  the  feet 
and  that  clean  socks  were  necessary  and  a  sim 
ple  expedient  to  that  end.  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Kimball  had  steadily  and  persistently  insisted 
on  the  importance  of  this  sort  of  cleanliness.  As 
a  result  of  these  continual  reminders  all  the 
men  soon  acquired  a  habit  of  exchanging  soiled 
for  clean  socks  whenever  such  a  fortunate 
combination  as  a  roadside  halt  and  a  conve 
nient  stream  happened  to  favor  them.  Many  a 
fist  fight  was  caused  by  the  failure  of  one  man 
to  properly  respect  the  rights  of  another  in  this 
connection.  There  were  those  who  thought 
lessly  and  perhaps  selfishly  squatted  down  on 
the  bank  of  the  brook  at  times  and  began  wash 
ing  the  socks  in  which  they  had  marched  all 
day,  within  a  foot  or  two  of  the  spot  where  a 
comrade  was  industriously  filling  the  canteens 
of  his  squad  with  drinking  water.  It  was  the 
general  rule  under  such  conditions  to  follow 
the  practice  of  John  Burns,  of  Gettysburg,  "  Be 
slow  to  argue  but  quick  to  act." 

The  task  of  providing  other  articles  of  clean 
apparel  was  a  more  difficult  one.  The  problem 
of  clean  shirts,  for  instance,  was  solved  as  fol- 


356   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

lows:  The  shirt  was  removed  during  a  tempo 
rary  halt  near  a  stream  and  washed.  As  the 
halt  was  seldom  or  never  of  sufficient  length 
to  permit  the  drying  of  the  garment,  it  was 
spread  over  the  naked  shoulders  of  the  owner 
and  carried  thus,  he  meanwhile  marching  along 
amid  clouds  of  dust  with  the  column.  This 
cleansing  process  was,  therefore,  often  ques 
tionable  and  always  comparative.  It  was  com 
forting  to  the  men,  however,  for  it  inspired  a 
belief  that  the  garment  was  thereby  rendered 
less  inviting  as  a  retreat  for -certain  unwelcome 
and  generally  unmentionable  invaders  of  the 
army  blue. 

At  the  opening  of  the  campaign  the  quarter 
master's  department  had  taken  charge  of  the 
discarded  knapsacks,  and  after  the  battle  of 
Antietam  had  been  fought  and  the  campaign 
ended  by  the  escape  of  Lee  across  the  Potomac, 
they  had  been  sent  forward  in  pursuit  of  the 
army  in  an  effort  to  deliver  them  to  the  various 
commands  to  which  they  belonged. 

When  it  became  known  that  they  had  been 
so  forwarded  and  that  they  were  then  some 
where  west  of  South  Mountain,  in  the  hands  of 
those  who  were  trying  to  find  the  owners,  de 
tails  were  sent  out  with  instructions  to  find 
those  belonging  to  the  Ninth  and  bring  them 
into  camp.  The  first  detail  sent  out  was  un- 


KNAPSACK  DRILLS.  357 

successful.  The  next,  however,  was  more 
fortunate  and  on  the  8th  of  the  month  they 
returned  with  the  long  lost  property.  On  the 
day  following  amid  much  rejoicing,  the  knap 
sacks  were  distributed  to  the  men.  They  were 
at  once  overhauled  for  changes  of  clothing  and 
incidentally  to  ascertain  how  much  property 
each  unfortunate  had  been  despoiled  of  by  the 
quartermaster's  men. 

The  receipt  of  the  knapsacks  very  soon 
proved  to  be  anything  but  an  unmixed  blessing. 
Knapsack  drills  began  to  be  very  much  in 
vogue  much  to  the  disgust  of  the  men,  who 
were  frequently  compelled  to  take  long  practice 
marches  weighed  down  with  all  their  earthly 
possessions.  This  was  probably  done  for  the 
purpose  of  getting  them  accustomed  to  moving 
in  heavy  marching  order. 

The  regular  daily  routine  now  was  company 
drill  in  the  mornings,  knapsack  drill  in  the 
afternoons,  and  always  dress  parade  in  the 
evenings. 

The  weather  was  now  becoming  very  unset 
tled.  There  were  a  good  many  rainy  days  and 
several  times  falls  of  snow.  Some  of  the  latter 
might  fairly  be  said  to  have  attained  the  dignity 
of  storms. 

The  only  means  which  the  men  of  the  regiment 
had  for  protection  against  the  inclemency  of  the 


358   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

weather  was  the  regular  shelter-tent;  a  piece 
of  unbleached  muslin  two  and  a  half  yards 
long  and  a  yard  wide.  A  row  of  buttons  along 
one  side  and  end,  and  a  row  of  button  holes  on 
the  opposite  ones,  was  the  means  by  which  two 
or  more  of  them  could  be  joined  together  for 
the  purpose  of  making  a  tent  or  shelter  of  the 
desired  size.  These  were  utilized  in  every  pos 
sible  way  in  order  to  provide  the  best  protection 
possible  against  the  storms  of  the  season. 

The  regiment  continued  an  uncomfortable, 
hand-to-mouth  existence,  being  short  of  rations 
nearly  all  the  time,  until  the  28th  of  the  month 
when,  having  received  instructions  to  prepare 
for  the  event,  the  "  general "  was  sounded,  tents 
struck  and  a  start  made  on  the  long  and  toil 
some  march  through  Virginia  which  ended  only 
when  it  arrived  at  Falmouth  Station  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river  from  Fredricksburg. 

During  the  greater  part  of  this  march — where 
conditions  made  it  possible  to  do  so — the  army 
was  moved  in  three  columns,  marching  as 
nearly  abreast  of  each  other  as  was  practicable. 
One  of  the  columns  occupied  the  road,  while 
the  others  marched  on  either  side  of  the  road 
in  the  fields,  keeping  as  near  together  as  the 
conformation  of  the  ground  would  permit. 
This  order  of  march  was  changed  each  day  by 
the  column  which  had  enjoyed  the  use  of  the 


MARCHING  IN  THREE  COLUMNS.  359 

road  the  day  before  taking  the  fields,  while  the 
others  occupied  the  road  alternately. 

The  advantages  gained  by  this  system  were 
many.  Under  it  the  army  moved  much  more 
rapidly  than  it  could  have  done  in  the  single 
column  formation.  The  various  divisions 
and  brigades  were  enabled  to  get  out  of 
camp  in  the  morning  at  nearly  the  same  time. 
It  did  away  with  the  long  tiresome  waits  which 
the  center  and  left  were  compelled  to  endure  in 
the  mornings  before  the  right  of  the  line  could 
get  out  of  their  way.  It  was  equally  advan 
tageous  at  night.  All  the  troops  were  able  to 
bring  their  day's  march  to  an  end  nearer 
together.  The  men  of  the  center  and  rear  were 
no  longer  obliged  to  stumble  along  hour  after 
hour  in  the  dark  over  bad  roads,  in  order  to 
reach  camp  where  the  troops  on  the  right  of  the 
column  had  probably  been  since  the  afternoon 
or  early  evening. 

So  far  as  the  question  of  discomforts,  or  the 
opposite,  was  concerned,  this  march  through 
Virginia  was  just  the  reverse  of  the  one  through 
Maryland.  Then  the  weather  was  generally 
pleasant  and  the  roads  were  always  good. 
Now,  the  season  being  well  advanced,  the 
weather  was  very  often  stormy  and  the  roads 
were  always  wretched. 

The  enemy  in  front  was  always  on  the  alert 


36O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

and  vigorously  disputed  the  advance  of  the 
army  by  every  means  at  his  command.  The 
troops  were  marched  and  countermarched  con- 
tinously,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  the  wearied  men, 
without  plan  or  reason,  as  they  could  not  un 
derstand  why  they  should  be  repeatedly  hurried 
back  and  forth  over  roads  they  had  just 
traveled.  Reveille  was  sounded  at  any  un 
reasonable  hour  in  the  morning — if,  indeed, 
there  had  been  any  bivouac  at  all.  Marching 
hither  and  thither,  sometimes  on  the  roads  and 
sometimes  across  the  fields  in  line  of  battle  ; 
skirmishing  with  the  enemy  or  standing  in  line 
for  hours  at  a  time,  expecting  momentarily  to 
be  ordered  into  action ;  rain  decended  one 
day  and  snow  the  next;  little  to  eat  at  any 
time  and  on  many  days  nothing;  wading 
ice-cold  streams  and  plodding  through  mud, 
but  always  gaining  something  from  the  enemy 
and  constantly  pushing  farther  into  the  Con 
federacy.  In  this  way,  after  having  crossed 
the  Potomac  at  Berlin,  they  successively 
passed  through  Wheatland,  Union,  Upperville, 
Rectortown  and  Gascons  Mills,  which  latter 
place  was  reached  on  the  yth  of  November. 
On  the  3ist  of  October,  Company  G  of  the 
regiment,  (Captain  Childs)  had  been  detailed  as 
headquarter's  guard  for  General  Burnside. 
While  the  men  were  classed  as  being  on  the 


COMPANY  G   AT  HEADQ UAR TERS.  361 

provost  guard  of  the  army,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
they  took  no  orders  from  anybody  except  the 
commanding  general.  The  detail  was  con 
sidered  a  great  honor  and  a  desirable  one  in 
every  way.  The  company  was  relieved  from 
the  harrassing  march  and  countermarch  which 
was  a  necessity  with  the  other  troops.  They 
were  also  in  a  position  to  have  their  requisi 
tions  for  necessaries  promptly  honored,  especi 
ally  those  for  rations.  The  men  were  con 
sidered,  in  the  vernacular  of  the  camp  as  having 
a  "  soft  thing,"  and  were  more  or  less  envied 
by  their  less  fortunate  comrades.  They  con 
tinued  to  act  as  headquarters  guard  until 
General  Burnside  was  relieved  of  the  command 
of  the  army. 

On  November  3rd,  Company  K  was  ordered 
from  the  position  which  it  had  occupied  on 
Bolivar  Heights  and  sent  to  join  General 
Kautz,  who  was  about  starting  on  an  extended 
reconnoisance  into  the  Shenandoah  Valley 
It  remained  as  part  of  his  command  until  the 
regiment  arrived  at  Fredricksburg. 

While  the  Ninth  was  in  the  vicinity  of  Gas 
cons  Mills,  the  ground  was  covered  with  snow. 
This  added  very  much  to  the  discomfort  of 
the  soldiers.  They  were  obliged  to  remove 
it  in  some  way,  either  with  hands,  feet  or 
whatever  could  be  found  and  utilized  for  the 


362    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

purpose,  to  scrape  it  off  the  places  where 
their  tents  were  to  be  pitched,  before  they 
could  set  them  up  and  lie  down  to  sleep. 

On  the  8th  of  November,  General  McClellan 
was  relieved  from  command  of  the  army,  being 
superseded  by  General  Burnside. 

There  was  great  rejoicing  among  the  men 
of  the  Qth  corps  when  this  change  of  com 
manders  became  known. 

Among  the  soldiers  generally,  there  was  a  spe 
cies  of  blind,  bigoted  loyalty  to  their  respective 
commanders,  as  well  as  a  sincere  affection  for 
them.  There  is  very  little  doubt  that  almost 
every  man  in  the  army  honestly  and  firmly 
believed  that  his  own  corps  commander  was 
one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the  greatest,  military 
hero  of  the  times.  None  of  them  would  admit 
that  when  it  came  to  planning  battles  or  move 
ments,  or  displaying  skill  in  executing  them, 
to  say  nothing  about  his  bravery  on  the  field, 
that  there .  could  be  any  question  as  to  his 
superior  ability  when  compared  with  any 
other  corps  commander  in  the  army.  This 
feeling,  or  at  least  the  expression  of  it,  was 
almost  universal  throughout  the  army.  There 
fore,  there  was  rejoicing  in  the  gth  corps  when 
Burnside,  its  original,  and  up  to  that  time, 
only  commander  was  chosen  as  the  head  of 
the  army. 


BURNSIDE  SUPERSEDES  McCLELLAN.  363 

Ever  since  the  battle  of  Antietam  there  had 
been  (in  that  corps,  at  least)  a  feeling  of  dis 
satisfaction,  and,  it  might  almost  be  said,  of  dis 
trust,  of  McClellan's  honesty  of  purpose.  The 
impression  was  gaining  strength,  gradually  but 
surely,  that  it  was  not  his  intention  nor  wish  to 
put  down  the  rebellion  by  force  of  arms.  The 
responsibility  for  the  piecemeal  and  disjointed 
way  in  which  the  battle  of  Antietam  had  been 
fought,  and  especially  the  childish  manner  in 
which  the  attack  by  the  left  wing  had  been 
managed,  was  all — whether  rightly  or  wrongly — 
charged  against  him.  No  one  would  admit 
that  his  own  corps  commander  might  pos 
sibly  have  been  incompetent  or  indifferent,  or 
both,  and  was  largely  or  perhaps  entirely  to 
blame  for  the  failure  to  destroy  the  rebel  army. 
The  men  knew  fairly  well  what  condition  their 
army  had  been  in  on  that  night.  They  remem 
bered  that  there  was  a  whole  corps  which  had 
not  been  engaged  at  all  during  the  battle, 
and  that  notwithstanding  this,  Lee,  with  his 
trains  and  impedimenta,  was  permitted  to  cross 
the  Potomac  unmolested.  Consequently,  there 
were  no  regrets — on  that  part  of  the  line,  at 
least — when  McClellan  was  superseded,  while 
the  fact  that  Burnside  became  his  successor 
was  hailed  by  the  men  of  the  corps  with 
great  satisfaction. 


364   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

The  army  remained  in  this  vicinity,  with 
headquarters  at  Warrenton,  for  several  days. 
There  was  considerable  moving  of  troops  hither 
and  thither,  however,  as  there  was  more  or 
less  skirmishing  and  cannonading  going  on 
all  the  while  between  the  Union  advance  and 
the  rear  guard  of  the  enemy,  as  well  as  on 
the  right  flank  of  the  army. 

On  the  evening  of  the  loth  it  seemed  that 
some  movement  of  more  than  ordinary  sig 
nificance  was  abont  being  executed,  as  the 
Ninth  was  moved  forward  about  two  miles, 
and  formed  in  line  of  battle  at  the  base  of  a 
hill.  It  remained  in  that  position  shivering  and 
miserable  all  night.  Hour  after  hour  passed, 
the  men  expecting  momentarily  to  be  either 
attacked  or  to  attack.  No  fires  were  permitted, 
as  they  would  have  exposed  the  exact  position 
to  the  enemy.  Everybody  in  the  regiment  ex 
perienced  a  great  sense  of  relief  when  after  a 
night  of  great  discomfort  morning  at  last  broke, 
and  no  enemy  appeared,  they  probably  hav 
ing  fallen  back  during  the  night.  The  regi 
ment  was  then  withdrawn  and  returned  to  its 
former  position. 

The  Zouaves  occupied,  practically,  the  same 
bivouac  until  the  I5th,  when  the  general  for 
ward  movement  was  resumed,  the  column  in 
which  they  were  being  the  center  one  and 


SHELLING  THE  WAGON  TRAIN.  36B 

occupying  the  road,  with  Hawkins'  brigade  in 
the  lead.  The  line  of  march  was  now  down 
the  left  bank  of  the  Rappahannock.  The 
command  had  not  proceeded  more  than  three 
or  four  miles,  when  it  suddenly  found  itself 
approaching  a  scene  of  confusion  the  equal  of 
which  is  seldom  witnessed  even  in  war.  A 
rebel  battery  had  taken  position  in  a  com 
manding  situation,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river,  and  had  opened  a  vigorous  and  des 
tructive  fire  on  a  wagon  train  of  commissary 
and  quartermaster's  supplies,  which  had  been 
sent  forward  without  an  escort.  The  whole 
train  had  been  thrown  into  confusion.  It  was 
a  mass  of  struggling  men  and  animals,  with 
some  broken  wagons  and  wrecked  stores.  As 
the  rebel  battery  was  far  beyond  the  range  of 
the  men's  Springfields,  the  infantry  was  pow 
erless  to  afford  any  protection.  Colonel  Haw 
kins,  instantly  appreciating  the  gravity  of  the 
situation,  hurriedly  dispatched  a  messenger  to 
General  Wilcox,  the  Corps  Commander,  re 
questing  that  Lieutenant  Benjamin,  the  com 
mander  of  the  famous  twenty-pounder  Par- 
rott  battery,  so  well  known  in  the  Qth  corps, 
be  hastened  forward  with  his  guns.  Major 
Brackett,  of  Wilcox's  staff,  carried  the  order, 
and  conducted  Benjamin  to  the  scene.  In 
a  few  minutes  he  arrived,  and  securing  a  posi- 


366    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

tion  on  a  promontory,  concealed  by  a  patch 
of  low^  shrubs,  the  pieces  were  loaded,  carefully 
sighted  and  elevated  and  the  whole  battery 
discharged  almost  simultaneously.  The  result 
was  astounding  to  all  beholders.  A  caisson 
was  exploded,  several  men  and  horses  killed 
or  wounded,  and  the  battery  totally  disabled. 
Benjamin  had  made  a  historic  shot,  and  from 
that  time  on  to  Falmouth,  the  center  column 
was  permitted  to  march  in  peace. 

On  Sunday,  the  i6th,  the  march  was 
resumed,  the  command  crossing  Great  River, 
passing  through  Fayette  and  Liberty,  and 
around  Warrenton  Junction,  and  went  into 
camp  near  the  railroad.  The  next  day  it  con 
tinued  the  march  in  a  drizzling  rain,  taking  the 
direct  road  to  Fredricksburg,  and  after  cover 
ing  about  twelve  miles  went  into  camp.  At 
daybreak  the  next  morning  the  regiment  was 
again  on  the  road.  The  enemy  had  disap 
peared  from  the  front.  There  had  been 
neither  cannonading  nor  skirmishing  since  the 
1 5th. 

On  the  i Qth  the  regiment  marched  through 
Falmouth,  crossed  the  railroad  and  encamped 
on  the  hill  directly  opposite  the  city  of  Fred 
ricksburg.  It  was  learned  that  the  main  body 
of  the  enemy  was  arriving  and  occupying  the 
hills  immediately  behind  or  south  of  the  city, 


IN  CAMP  A  T  FALMOUTH  STA  TION.  367 

and  it  was  also  ascertained  that  his  pickets 
extended  along  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
Rappahannock,  not  only  in  the  town  itself, 
but  both  above  and  below  it. 

Now  that  the  army  had  at  last  arrived  at 
Falmouth,  which  appeared  for  the  present  at 
least,  to  have  brought  the  long  march  to  an 
end,  everybody  was  delighted.  The  prospect 
of  at  last  getting  into  a  permanent  camp  was 
very  gratifying.  The  regiment  had  been  on 
the  move  nearly  every  day  since  the  28th  of 
October,  the  day  on  which  it  broke  camp  in 
Pleasant  Valley.  The  men  were  nearly  worn 
out  physically,  and  were  greatly  in  need  of  sup 
plies  of  every  kind,  especially  shoes  and 
clothing. 

On  the  following  day  Company  K  rejoined 
the  regiment  after  having  been  on  duty  with 
General  Kautz's  division  in  all  its  various 
movements  and  operations,  since  it  first  started 
on  the  march  up  the  Shenandoah. 

On  the  22d  there  was  great  activity  noticeable 
throughout  the  camps.  Batteries  were  being 
planted  in  positions  which  appeared  to  be 
favorable  for  shelling  the  enemy.  Shots  were 
exchanged  with  them  during  the  day  and  as  a 
result  the  troops  that  were  exposed  to  the 
enemy's  fire  were  moved  farther  back  out  of 
range  of  their  guns.  Orders  for  a  forward 


368    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

movement  were  now  expected  daily.  Every 
indication  pointed  to  the  probability  that  a  great 
battle  was  very  near.  Day  after  day  passed, 
however,  but  still  the  movement  was  delayed. 

The  2yth  day  of  November  was  Thanksgiving 
day.  It  was  not  celebrated  by  the  Zouaves 
with  any  great  degree  of  enthusiasm.  Inasmuch 
as  there  was  neither  hardtack  nor  coffee  in  their 
camp  that  day,  and  as  they  were  obliged  to  go 
hungry,  they  failed  to  properly  grasp  the  idea 
of  the  propriety  of  being  particularly  thankful. 
On  the  contrary  they  gave  themselves  up  fully 
to  indulging  in  a  general  growl,  and  devoted 
themselves  unreservedly  to  the  exhilarating 
and  pleasant  recreation  of  d — ing  the  quarter 
master,  both  individually  and  collectively,  for 
the  rest  of  the  day.  While  this  did  not  allay 
their  hunger,  it  nevertheless  gave  them  the  only 
satisfaction  obtainable  at  that  time. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  nth  of  Decem 
ber,  the  regiment  was  aroused  without  reveille, 
the  men  being  awakened  quietly  by  the  mem 
bers  of  the  guard.  The  long  looked  for  order 
for  the  attack  on  Fredricksburg  had  come  at 
last. 

The  day  opened  with  a  bombardment  on  a 
most  gigantic  scale.  The  thunder  of  the  guns 
and  the  bursting  shells  seemed  to  make  the 
solid  earth  quake.  Outside  of  this  there  was 


LAYING  THE  PONTOONS.  369 

little  to  be  seen.  The  troops  were  mostly 
hidden  in  the  woods  and  hollows  of  the  ground 
out  of  view  of  the  enemy,  and  were  waiting 
patiently  for  the  completion  of  the  pontoon 
bridges  upon  which  they  were  to  cross  the  river. 
From  unforeseen  causes  these  bridges,  which 
should  have  been  laid  the  night  before  were 
delayed.  When  daylight  came  the  rebel 
sharpshooters,  who  had  excellent  cover  in  the 
houses  of  the  town  near  the  river,  effectually 
stopped  all  work  on  them.  Notwithstand 
ing  the  terrific  character  of  the  bombard 
ment  it  was  as  ineffective  against  them  as 
artillery  usually  is  against  infantry  so  pro 
tected.  The  smoke  from  the  guns  settled 
down  and  almost  completely  hid  the  city  and 
the  opposite  hills.  The  river  had  to  be  crossed 
and  it  became  necessary  to  detail  regiments 
to  cross  in  pontoon  boats  and  storm  the  posi 
tions  occupied  by  the  sharpshooters. 

The  honor  of  successfully  performing  this 
difficult  task  is  now  claimed  by  the  survivors 
of  many  regiments.  As  a  matter  of  fact  official 
records  and  authoritive  statements  show  that 
the  gallant  exploit  was  performed  by  several 
different  regiments  at  widely  separated  points, 
where  the  various  bridges  were  being  laid,  ancl 
without  any  of  them  knowing  that  the  same 
thing  was  being  done  by  other  commands. 


37O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

A  careful  examination  of  the  official  reports 
relating  to  the  earlier  operations  in  this  battle 
will  show  that  probably  the  first  regiments  to 
respond  to  the  call  for  volunteers  and  to  cross 
the  river  in  this  way,  were  the  Seventh  Michi 
gan  and  Twentieth  Massachusetts,  both  of 
Howard's  division,  who  rowed  themselves  over 
in  pontoons,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  city  and 
dislodged  Barkdale's  Mississippi  sharpshooters 
and  occupied  the  positions  from  which  they  had 
harrassed  the  bridge  builders. 

When  it  became  apparent  that,  under  the 
heavy  and  accurate  fire  from  the  sharpshooters, 
it  would  be  impossible  for  the  engineers  to  lay 
the  bridge  over  which  the  3d  division  was 
to  cross  the  river,  the  8gth  New  York,  of 
the  ist  brigade  (Hawkins')  was  sent  over  in 
boats  to  dislodge  them  from  their  strong  posi 
tion  in  the  houses  opposite.  This  duty  was 
performed  in  gallant  style,  the  other  regiments 
of  the  brigade  covering  the  movement  as  well 
as  possible.  The  89th,  after  a  hot  fight,  in 
which  they  captured  sixty-five  prisoners,  suc 
ceeded  in  dislodging  the  sharpshooters  and 
occupying  the  position,  thereby  permitting  the 
laying  of  the  bridge  to  be  completed  and  a 
Crossing  made  practicable.  That  evening,  the 
brigade  to  which  the  Ninth  belonged,  after 
some  light  fighting  occupied  the  lower  part  of 


ON  PICKE T  AT  FREDERICKS^ URG.  371 

the  city,  taking  position  in  one  of  the  streets 
which  ran  parallel  with  the  river,  where  the 
men  slept  on  their  arms  through  the  night. 
Company  D  was  thrown  forward  as  a  picket, 
and  a  guard,  under  command  of  Lieutenant 
Webster,  was  posted  in  the  outskirts  of  the 
town.  The  night  was  very  cold  and  the  men 
suffered  much  from  this  cause.  They  were 
not  allowed  to  leave  the  ranks  to  seek  shelter 
in  the  neighboring  houses,  and  a  chilling  fog 
penetrated  the  clothing  and  seemed  to  pierce 
the  very  marrow  of  their  bones.  Severe  fight 
ing  was  going  on  nearly  all  the  following 
day  outside  the  city,  but  the  Ninth  was  not 
sent  forward  to  take  part  in  it  but  remained 
in  about  the  first  position  occupied  until  dark. 
The  fog  settled  closer  and  at  times  was  so 
dense  that  nothing  could  be  seen  of  the 
position  or  movement  of  either  side. 

About  8  P.M.,  the  Ninth  was  ordered  on 
picket,  relieving  the  iO3d  New  York.  The 
outer  line  was  on  the  plain  outside  the  city 
and  within  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
of  that  of  the  enemy,  though  the  fog  obscured 
the  exact  position.  Under  such  conditions 
there  was  no  sleep  for  the  men  not  on  post, 
and  the  time  wore  heavily  on,  without  even 
the  excitement  which  picket  firing  might 
afford.  The  night  was  passed  in  general 


372   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

gloom  and  depression.  Some  sharp  fighting 
had  taken  place  on  the  preceding  day,  but  on 
the  1 3th  the  battle  had  raged  fiercely  and  con 
tinuously  from  morning  until  night.  Brigade 
after  brigade,  and  division  after  division,  had 
been  sent  in,  relieving  others  as  they  became 
depleted  or  partly  or  wholly  broken  up  and 
demoralized  by  the  terrible  fire  of  artillery  and 
musketry.  The  fighting  had  been  of  the  most 
sanguinary  character,  but  the  positions  de 
fended  by  the  enemy  were  naturally  so  strong 
and  had  been  so  scientifically  fortified  that  it 
seemed  impossible  to  make  any  impression  on 
them.  Line  after  line  went  gallantly  forward 
to  the  attack,  but  as  soon  as  each  one  came 
within  range  of  the  enemy's  well  posted  artil 
lery  and  strong f, lines  of  infantry,  it  melted 
away  under  the  furious  storm  of  bullets 
broken  up  and  demoralized ;  the  survivors 
seeking  shelter  in  the  hollows  or  behind  the 
inequalities  of  the  ground,  where  they  kept  up 
a  steady  fire  against  the  enemy  until  opportu 
nities  came  to  relieve  them. 

The  following  extracts  from  General  Couch's 
article  entitled  "Sumner's  Right  Grand  Div 
ision,"  will  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the 
character  of  the  fighting  as  seen  by  him,  with  the 
frightful  losses  sustained  by  the  troops  while 
powerless  to  inflict  any  serious  damage  on  the 


ADVANCE  OF  THE  SECOND  CORPS.  373 

enemy.  General  Couch  was  the  commander  of 
the  Second  Corps,  but  at  the  battle  of  Fred- 
ricksburg  was  temporarily  in  command  of  the 
Right  Grand  Division  of  the  army: 

"  Early  the  next  morning,  Saturday  the  I3th, 
I  received  orders  to  make  an  assault  in  front. 
My  orders  came  from  General  Sumner,  who 
did  not  cross  the  river  during  the  fight,  owing 
to  a  special  understanding. 

"  General  French  was  at  once  directed  to 
prepare  his  division  in  three  brigade  lines  for 
the  advance,  and  General  Hancock  was  to 
follow  with  his  division  in  the  same  order. 
The  distance  between  the  successive  brigade 
lines  was  to  be  about  two  hundred  yards. 

Towards  ten  o'clock  the  fog  began  to  lift ; 
French  reported  that  he  was  ready.  I  signaled 
to  Sumner  and  about  eleven  o'clock  the  move 
ment  was  ordered  to  begin.  French  threw  out 
a  strong  body  of  skirmishers,  and  his  brigades 
filed  out  of  town  as  rapidly  as  possible  by  two 
parallel  streets.  *  *  *  On  the  outskirts  of 
town  the  troops  encountered  a  ditch,  or  canal, 
so  deep  as  to  be  almost  impassable  except 
at  the  street  bridges,  and  one  of  the  latter  being 
partly  torn  up,  the  troops  had  to  cross  in  single 
file  on  the  stringers.  Once  across  the  canal 
the  troops  deployed  under  the  bank  bordering 
the  plain  over  which  they  were  to  charge. 


374   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

This  plain  was  obstructed  here  and  there  by 
houses  and  fences,  notably  at  a  fork  of  the 
telegraph  road,  in  the  narrow  angle  of  which 
was  a  cluster  of  houses  and  gardens  ;  and  also 
on  the  parallel  road  just  south  of  it,  where 
stood  a  large,  square  brick  house.  This  cluster 
of  houses  and  the  brick  house  were  the  rally 
ing  points  for  parts  of  our  demolished  lines  of 
attack.  The  forks  of  the  road  and  the  brick 
house  were  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
yards  from  the  stone  wall,  which  covered  also 
as  much  more  of  the  plain  to  the  left  of  the 
brick  house.  A  little  in  advance  of  the  brick 
house  a  slight  rise  in  the  ground  afforded  pro 
tection  to  men  lying  down  against  the 
musketry  behind  the  stone  wall,  but  not  against 
the  converging  fire  of  the  artillery  on  the 
heights.  My  headquarters  were  in  the  field  on 
the  edge  of  the  town,  overlooking  the  plain. 
*  *  *  French's  division  charged  in  the 
order  of  Kimball's,  Andrew's  and  Palmer's 
brigades.  Hancock  followed  them  in  the  order 
of  Zook's  Meagher's  and  Caldwell's  brigades. 

"Without  a  clear  idea  of  the  state  of  affairs  at 
the  front,  since  the  smoke  and  light  fog  veiled 
everything,  I  sent  word  to  French  and  Hancock 
to  carry  the  enemy's  works  by  storm.  Then  I 
climbed  the  steeple  of  the  courthouse  and  from 
above  the  haze  and  smoke  got  a  clear  view  of 


AN  IMPOSSIBLE  TASK.  375 

the  field.  Howard,  who  was  with  me,  says  I 
exclaimed,  'Oh, great  God!  see  how  our  men, 
our  poor  fellows,  are  falling !'  I  remember  that 
the  \vhole  plain  was  covered  with  men,  pros 
trate  and  falling,  the  live  men  running  here 
and  there,  and  in  front  closing  upon  each 
other,  and  the  wounded  coming  back.  The 
commands  seemed  to  be  mixed  up.  I  had 
never  before  seen  fighting  like  that;  nothing 
approaching  it  in  terrible  uproar  and  destruc 
tion.  There  was  no  cheering  on  the  part  of 
the  men,  but  a  stubborn  determination  to  obey 
orders  and  do  their  duty.  I  don't  think  there 
was  much  feeling  of  success.  As  they  charged 
the  artillery  fire  would  break  their  formation, 
and  they  would  get  mixed ;  then  they  would 
close  up,  go  forward,  receive  the  withering  in 
fantry  fire,  and  those  who  were  able  would  run 
to  those  houses  and  do  all  they  could,  and  then 
the  next  brigade  coming  up  in  succession  would 
do  their  duty  and  melt.  It  was  like  snow 
coming  down  and  melting  on  warm  ground. 

"  Soon  after  four  o'clock,  or  about  sunset,  while 
Humphreys  was  at  work,  Getty's  division* 
of  Wilcox's  Corps  was  ordered  to  the  charge 
on  our  left  by  the  unfinished  railroad.  I  could 
see  them  being  dreadfully  cut  up.  *  *  *  I 
determined  to  send  a  battery  upon  the  plain  to 

*The  division  to  which  Hawkins'  brigade  belonged. 


376   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

shell  the  line  that  was  doing  them  so  much 
harm,  so  I  ordered  an  aid  to  tell  Colonel  Mor 
gan  to  send  a  battery  across  the  canal  and  plant 
it  near  the  brick  house. 

"  Morgan  came  to  me  and  said :  '  General,  a 
battery  can't  live  there.'  I  replied:  '  Then  it 
must  die  there.' 

"  Hazard  took  his  battery  out  in  gallant  style 
and  opened  fire  on  the  enemy's  lines  to  the  left 
of  the  Marye  House.  Men  never  fought  more 
gallantly,  and  he  lost  a  great  many  men  and 
horses.  *  *  * 

"  That  night  was  bitter  cold  and  a  fearful  one 
for  the  front  line  hugging  the  hollows  of  the 
ground,  and  for  the  wounded  who  could  not  be 
reached.  It  was  a  night  of  dreadful  suffering. 
Many  died  of  wounds  and  exposure,  and  as 
fast  as  men  died  they  stiffened  in  the  wintry  air, 
and  on  the  front  line  were  rolled  forward  for 
protection  to  the  living.  Frozen  men  were 
placed  as  dumb  sentries. 

"Again  my  corps  bivouacked  in  the  town 
and  were  not  allowed  fires  lest  they  should 
draw  the  fire  of  the  enemy's  artillery." 

When  Getty's  division,  of  which  Hawkins' 
brigade  was  a  part,  was  ordered  forward  to  take 
part  in  the  assault  of  the  enemy's  line,  it  was 
late  in  the  afternoon.  At  about  the  same  time 
the  Fifth  Massachusetts  Battery  was  ordered 


ADVANCING  TO  SUPPORT  THE  BATTERY.         377 

to  the  extreme  front  in  a  desperate  endeavor  to 
render  efficient  assistance  to  the  charging 
troops,  who  were  being  literally  torn  to  pieces 
by  the  fire  from  the  guns  mentioned  by  General 
Couch.  The  Ninth  Regiment  was  detached 
from  the  brigade  and  ordered  forward  to  sup 
port  it.  It  appears  not  to  have  been  the  inten 
tion  to  detail  the  Ninth  for  this  duty,  as 
Colonel  Hawkins,  in  his  report  to  General  Getty, 
says:  "Owing  to  a  misapprehension  of  your 
orders,  the  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers  were 
ordered  to  support  a  battery  and  did  not  par 
ticipate  in  the  advance  made  by  the  brigade." 
The  order  to  support  the  battery,  come  from 
whatever  source  it  did,  was  received  just  about 
dark,  and  the  regiment  moved  forward  "  By  the 
right  of  companies  to  the  front,"  at  a  double 
quick,  through  yards  and  gardens,  over  fences 
and  other  obstructions,  through  the  outskirts  of 
the  city,  and  over  the  plain  beyond,  and  suc 
ceeded  in  gaining  a  position  just  below  the 
crest  of  a  low  ridge  which  afforded  partial  pro 
tection  from  the  fire  of  the  enemy's  artillery. 
The  regiment  held  its  ground  here  while  ex 
posed  to  a  withering  fire  both  from  the  front 
and  right  flank,  with  no  opportunity  to  reply 
to  it,  simply  being  obliged  to  hug  the  ground 
and  take  whatever  the  fortune  of  war  had  in 
store  for  it  until  the  battery  was  totally  disabled 


378   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

by  the  loss  of  men  and  horses  and  was  obliged 
to  retire. 

At  about  ten  o'clock  the  regiment  was  ordered 
to  fall  back,  which  it  did  to  an  open  field 
outside  the  city,  where  it  bivouacked. 

The  total  loss  of  the  regiment  in  this  battle 
-killed,  wounded  and  missing  —  numbered 
only  fifteen,  which  is  a  very  light  one  when 
the  dreadful  slaughter  of  men  throughout 
the  army  as  a  whole  is  considered.  The  loss 
of  the  ist  Brigade,  without  counting  that 
of  the  Ninth,  amounted  to  two  hundred  and 
forty-three  men.  If  the  Ninth  had  advanced 
with  the  brigade  to  the  assault,  instead  of 
having  been  ordered  to  support  the  battery, 
and  if  its  loss  had  been  no  greater  than  the 
average  in  the  rest  of  the  brigade,  it  would 
have  amounted  to  eighty-one  men.  The  reg 
iment  was,  therefore,  very  fortunate,  when  the 
matter  of  loss  is  considered,  in  having  been 
detached  from  the  brigade  just  before  the 
attack  was  ordered. 

The  night  was  again  bitterly  cold.  No  fires 
were  permitted,  and  everyone  was  on  the  qui 
vive,  as  it  was  rather  expected  that  the  enemy 
would  make  a  counter-attack.  It  was  a  night 
of  great  discomfort  and  anxiety,  and  a  sleep 
less  one  for  all. 


DEFEA  TED  B  UT  NO  T  DISHEAR  TEN  ED.  379 

\ 

Just  before  daybreak  the  regiment  was  with 
drawn  from  the  advance  position  occupied, 
and  fell  back  into  the  city,  taking  position  in 
one  of  the  streets,  where  it  remained  all  day 
and  the  following  night.  During  the  night 
permission  was  granted  the  men  to  enter  the 
houses  for  shelter,  and  all  except  [the  guard 
availed  themselves  of  it,  and  secured  a  much 
needed  rest  and  sleep. 

There  was  very  little  firing  from  either  side 
during  the  night.  Both  armies  were  so  thor 
oughly  exhausted  by  the  marching,  fighting 
and  waiting  of  the  three  preceding  days  that 
an  involuntary  truce  was  accepted  by  both  the 
tired  combatants. 

On  the  next  day  the  Zouaves  again  re 
mained  under  arms,  in  the  street,  until  about 
ten  o'clock  at  night,  when  the  regiment  was 
quietly  withdrawn,  and  marched  silently  to  the 
river.  Recrossing  by  the  same  pontoon  bridge 
by  which  it  had  entered  Fredricksburg,  it  re 
gained  the  old  camp  which  all  had  left  with 
such  high  hopes,  on  the  morning  of  the 
nth.  Tired,  hungry  and  beaten,  though  no 
man  would  give  utterance  to  the  latter  as  a 
conviction,  they  marched  into  the  old  camp,  but 
still  ready  to  try  it  again  when  the  oppor 
tunity  presented  itself. 


38O    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

History  dignifies  by  the  name  of  War  all 
periods  of  human  strife  when  large  bodies  of 
men  assemble  with  the  avowed  object  of 
taking  the  lives  of  their  adversaries.  The 
popular  conception  regarding  war — the  one 
which  seems  to  occupy  even  the  mind  of 
the  intelligent  and  peace-loving  citizen — is  a 
vague,  confused  jumble  of  parade  and  glitter, 
guns  and  drums,  noise  and  glory,  clanking 
swords  and  gleaming  bayonets,  and  especially 
and  above  all,  excitement.  Many  thousands  of 
men  are  supposed  to  be  engaged,  as  with  one 
accord,  in  performing  the  most  brilliant  move 
ments  or  heroic  acts,  all  inspired  by  the  noblest 
impulses.  The  press,  the  rostrum,  and  part 
of  the  pulpit  are  largely  responsible  for  this— 
not  more  in  declaring  it  than  in  omitting  to 
state  all  the  truth.  They  have,  then,  rhetor 
ically  plastered  the  subject  with  glory — that 
superficial  flow  of  words  which  means  noth 
ing.  It  is  not,  therefore,  strange  that  the 
average  citizen  adheres  to  the  fallacy,  which 
he  elevates  to  the  dignity  of  a  belief,  that  all 
who  enlist  in  the  army  in  time  of  war  at  once 
become  subjects  for  admiration  and  respect. 

General  Sherman  defined  war  as  "  hell  ";  and 
again,  "War  is  barbarism;  you  can't  human 
ize  it."  If  "war  is  hell,"  it  is  the  habitation 
of  Satan  and  his  minions.  It  invites  the  im- 


STRAGGLERS  AND  PL  UNDER ERS.  381 

moral,  the  vicious,  the  depraved,  the  dishonor 
able,  the  base,  because  it  makes  possible  the 
pursuit  of  their  various  rascalities  under  the 
guise  of  patriotism.  A  soldier's  uniform  often 
clothes  a  rascal.  Apparel  does  not  change 
one's  character ;  and  if  the  soldier  was  dishon 
orable  as  a  citizen,  he  continued  so  as  a  soldier. 
The  citizen  who  enjoyed  the  respect  and  confi 
dence  of  those  who  knew  him  at  home,  who 
strove  to  do  his  duty  to  his  family,  his  neigh 
bors  and  the  State,  and  who  enlisted  from  a 
sense  of  duty,  became  as  good  a  soldier  as  he 
was  a  citizen.  These  remarks  are  intended 
to  remind  the  reader  of  the  presence  in  the 
army  of  the  lawless  element,  who  sought  that 
field  because  it  promised  a  larger  opportunity 
for  evil  and  a  less  degree  of  liability  to  appre 
hension  and  punishment. 

There  was  always  a  certain  percentage  of 
nearly  every  command  who  took  advantage 
of  th^  confusion  while  their  officers  were  en 
gaged  in  performing  the  manifold  duties  which 
always  accompany  the  movements  of  troops,  to 
slip  away  from  their  companies  unobserved  and 
become  stragglers.  Some  seized  this  opportu 
nity  to  avoid  the  dangers  of  the  battle  by 
skulking  in  the  rear,  rejoining  their  companies 
after  the  fighting  was  over,  and  then  ostenta 
tiously  related  the  acts  of  bravery  they  per- 


382    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

formed  during  the  engagement.  If  any  ques 
tion  was  raised  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  one  of 
these  men  at  a  specified  time,  he  had  only  to 
claim  that  he  was  anywhere  on  the  battlefield 
except  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  ques 
tioner.  Of  course,  evidence  was  abundant  and 
easily  produced  to  prove  the  presence  of  a 
soldier  in  line  of  battle  during  action ;  but  in 
the  absence  of  roll-call,  no  officer  or  enlisted 
man  could  prove  that  the  suspected  straggler 
was  not  present  somewhere  at  any  given  time, 
and  this  class  of  men  understood  this  per 
fectly. 

The  fighting  outside  the  city,  along  the  base 
of  the  hills,  was  of  such  a  determined  and 
bloody  character,  that  the  skulkers  soon  found 
it  was  no  place  for  them,  and  the  whole  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  of  the  troops  at  the  front,  which 
Sheridan  said  was  the  percentage  of  men  who 
were  useless  when  the  fighting  began,  together 
with  the  skulkers  from  the  reserves  and  sup 
ports,  were  soon  straggling  throughout  the 
city. 

Some  stragglers  simply  pilfer — take  such 
articles  as  come  under  their  notice,  perhaps  with 
the  thought  that  if  he  does  not  take  it  others 
will.  Some,  with  the  robber  instinct  more 
strongly  developed,  enter  houses,  either  by 
force  or  stealth,  in  search  of  plunder.  Others 


"BLESSED  ARE  THE  PEACEMAKERS."  383 

rob  the  persons  of  the  dead  lying  on  the  battle 
field  or  commit  the  various  other  kinds  of 
misdemeanors  which  opportunity  offers  or  a 
vicious  instinct  prompts.  These  acts  form  a 
part  of  the  "  hell "  General  Sherman  had  in 
mind  when  he  defined  war.  They  are  also 
what  the  after-dinner  orator  advocates  when  he 
glibly  talks  of  the  benefits  of  "  a  little  blood 
letting  to  the  body  politic."  Of  course,  he 
doesn't  mean  his  own,  but  some  other  person's 
blood.  They  are  what  the  so-called  statesman 
sanctions  when  he  howls  about  the  "  rust  of 
peace,"  or,  when  with  contempt,  he  alludes  to 
the  "  commercial  spirit  which  smothers  the 
warlike  instinct."  They  are  the  acts  which 
have  the  approval  of  certain  divines,  when  they 
pervert  the  teachings  of  the  Master  they  pre 
tend  to  serve  by  preaching  the  "  righteousness 
of  war,"  blasphemously  asserting  that  God's 
blessing  attends  it 

While  the  Ninth  was  in  Fredricksburg  the 
city  appeared  to  be  full  of  plunderers.  Numbers 
of  men  were  seen  loaded  with  goods  of  every 
kind  and  description.  Some  articles  might 
have  been  of  use  to  the  possessor,  but  many 
could  not  in  any  way  be  of  the  slightest  utility. 
Men  wrapped  in  quilts,  blankets,  and  comforters 
to  protect  them  from  the  biting  wind,  stood  in 
line  with  their  commands  or  lounged  in  the 


384   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

shelter  of  the  buildings.  The  guards,  and  also 
the  officers  and  men  not  on  guard,  were  con 
stantly  compelling  the  plunderers  to  give  up 
their  booty.  These  articles  were  left  in  the 
streets  as  it  was  impracticable  to  return  them  to 
their  original  owners.  At  the  several  bridge 
heads  great  piles  of  goods  accumulated  as  the 
provost  guard  stopped  the  stragglers  in  their 
attempts  to  cross  the  river,  and  made  them 
disgorge  their  plunder  there.  While  it  is  not 
literally  true  that  the  city  was  crowded  with 
stragglers  and  plunderers,  still  there  was  plenty 
of  them. 

While  the  reserves  were  stationed  in  the 
streets,  the  vicious  minority  among  the  strag 
glers  were  kept  in  check  by  a  wholesome  fear 
of  consequences  which  would  follow  should 
any  of  them  be  detected  in  the  perpetration  of 
nefarious  acts.  When  such  acts  were  discov 
ered,  good  soldiers  (by  which  is  meant  an  over 
whelming  majority  of  all  those  in  the  service, 
both  commissioned  and  enlisted)  would  not, 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  take  the  law  into  their 
own  hands  and  put  a  stop  to  them  in  a  sum 
mary  manner.  But  when  the  troops  were 
being  withdrawn  and  the  different  sections  of 
the  city  left  entirely  unprotected,  the  vicious 
and  criminal  had  full  sway. 


SERGEANT  SEARINGS  OPPORTUNE  ARRIVAL.       38S 

During  the  last  night  in  Fredricksburg, 
when  the  men  of  the  Ninth  were  given  per 
mission  to  seek  shelter  from  the  cold  in  the 
houses,  a  number  of  Company  D's  men  occu 
pied  one  in  which  the  female  members  of  the 
family  still  remained,  having  faith  in  the 
chivalry  of  the  Yankee  soldiers  and  nerved  by 
the  natural  desire  to  protect  their  homes  and 
property.  Their  confidence  was  not  misplaced, 
as,  during  their  stay  of  about  twenty  hours  the 
men  treated  them  with  the  utmost  considera 
tion  and  courtesy,  and  made  their  own  occu 
pation  of  the  premises  as  inoffensive  as  pos 
sible. 

After  the  regiment  had  crossed  the  river 
on  the  night  it  evacuated  the  city,  Sergeant 
Searing,  who  had  been  one  of  the  occupants 
of  the  house  above  mentioned,  discovered 
that  he  had  forgotten  some  papers,  diaries, 
etc.,  which  he  had  left  at  the  house  in  the 
hurry  of  departure.  Recrossing  the  river  and 
proceeding  there  to  recover  them,  he  arrived 
just  in  time  to  protect  the  women  of  the  house 
from  abuse,  as  three  stragglers  had  entered 
but  a  few  moments  before,  and,  finding  the  in 
mates  unprotected  and  helpless,  were  about  to 
assault  them  when  Searing  entered.  The 
Sergeant's  unexpected  appearance,  and  his 
authoritative  and  peremptory  demeanor  as  he 


386   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

ordered  the  ruffians  out  of  the  place  and  to 
their  regiments,  probably  conveyed  the  im 
pression  that  he  had  a  guard  outside,  as  the 
assaulting  party  slunk  away  at  once  and  disap 
peared  in  the  darkness.  Sergeant  Searing's 
only  guard  just  then  was  a  firm  belief  in  the 
everlasting  right,  backed  up  by  a  stout  heart 
and  a  good  Springfield  musket. 

After  quieting  the  frightened  women  by 
assurances  that  there  would  be  no  further 
cause  for  alarm,  that  their  own  friends — the 
Johnnies — would  soon  come  in  and  occupy 
the  town,  together  with  other  reassuring  state 
ments,  he  secured  his  lost  papers,  and  recrossed 
the  river,  being  probably  the  last  man  of  the 
Ninth  in  the  city,  and  reached  the  regiment  in 
safety. 

Colonel  Hawkins  did  what  he  could  to 
check  lawlessness  in  that  part  of  the  city 
occupied  by  him.  He  called  the  attention  of 
General  Howard  to  the  acts  of  men  who  be 
longed  to  his  (Howard's)  command,  with  a 
view  of  having  the  latter  take  measures  to 
maintain  order.  Howard's  answer  was  :  "  Sol 
diers  are  not  expected  to  be  angels."  Haw 
kins  afterward  established  a  guard  along  a 
brook,  which  was  a  kind  of  general  dividing 
line  between  the  corps,  and  would  not  allow 
any  of  Howard's  men  to  come  into  that  part 
of  the  city  occupied  by  his  brigade. 


COLONEL  KIMB  ALL'S  REPORT.  387 

The  following  is  Colonel  Kimball's  official 
report  of  the  part  taken  by  the  Qth  New 
York  Volunteers  in  the  battle  of  Fredericks- 
burg: 

CAMP  OPPOSITE  FREDERICKSBURG,  VA. 

December  16,  1862. 

COLONEL  :  — I  herewith  have  the  honor  to  report  that,  in  compliance 
with  your  orders,  I  left  this  camp  on  the  evening  of  the  nth  instant, 
crossed  the  Rappahannock  to  Fredericksburg,  and  bivouacked,  occupy, 
ing  the  main  street  for  about  one  block  and  a  half  north  of  the  rail 
road,  throwing  Company  D  forward  to  the  enemy's  front  as  picket. 
Immediately  upon  taking  position  I  established  a  strong  guard  upon 
the  sidewalks  and  both  flanks  of  my  command,  with  instructions  to 
allow  no  one  to  enter  a  house  or  destroy  or  take  away  a  single  article 
from  that  portion  of  the  street  in  which  we  were  stationed,  which 
order,  I  am  happy  to  say,  was  literally  obeyed  during  our  entire  occu 
pancy  of  that  position. 

At  seven  o'clock  of  the  evening  of  the  i2th,  the  entire  regiment  was 
ordered  to  the  front  on  picket  duty,  and  did  not  again  return  to  that 
portion  of  the  town. 

At  daylight  on  the  morning  of  the  i3th,  I  was  relieved  from  picket, 
and  returned  to  town  near  the  lower  pontoon  bridge,  where  I  re 
mained  until  about  6  P.M.,  when  in  obedience  to  your  orders,  I  ad 
vanced  my  command,  under  a  heavy  fire  of  artillery,  to  the  brow  of 
the  hill  in  front  of  the  enemy,  to  the  support  of  the  Fifth  Massachu 
setts  Battery.  I  here  received  your  orders  to  halt,  which  I  did,  and 
remained  in  support  of  the  above  battery,  as  directed,  till  it  was  dis 
abled  and  retired  past  us  from  the  field.  At  this  point  the  fire  of 
shell  and  shrapnel  was  tremendous,  totally  disabling  the  battery,  and 
killing  one  and  wounding  eight  men  of  my  command.  I  then  received 
your  orders  to  return  to  the  lower  part  of  the  city  and  bivouac,  which 
I  did,  remaining  in  that  position  during  the  night. 

The  next  day,  i4th,  we  were  ordered  into  quarters,  where  we  re 
mained  till  the  evening  of  the  isth,  when  we  were  ordered  to  recross 
the  river  and  return  to  our  old  camp  at  this  place,  where  we  arrived 
about  eleven  o'clock  at  night. 

I  would  beg  leave  to  call  attention  to  the  following  officers,  which 
list  embraces  all  of  those  engaged  with  the  regiment  during  the  action 
of  the  1 3th  ;  Captain  Barnett,  acting  major  ;  Adjutant  Bartholomew, 
Captains  LeBaire,  Graham,  Rodriquez,  and  Klingsoehr  ;  Lieutenants 
Harrison,  Webster,  Fleming,  Powell,  Donaldson,  Jacobsohn,  Vogt  and 
Jackson. 


388   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

I  can  say  no  more  than  that  all  behaved  in  the  most  admirable 
manner,  and  are  entitled  to  great  credit  for  gallantry  and  coolness 
under  fire.  The  men  obeyed  every  order  with  alacrity  and  prompt 
ness,  and  are  entitled  to  the  commendation  of  their  officers  and  the 
thanks  of  their  countrymen  for  their  courage  and  coolness  on  this  as 
well  as  other  occasions. 

Below  is  a  list  of  killed,  wounded  and  missing. 
******** 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 
Your  obedient  servant, 

E.   A.    KIMBALL, 

Lieutenant-Colonel, 

Commanding  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers. 
COLONEL  R.  C.  HAWKINS, 

Commanding  First  Brigade. 

After  regaining  their  own  side  of  the  river 
and  re-establishing  the  old  camp  and  devo 
ting  a  few  days  to  recuperative  rest,  the  or 
dinary  routine  of  camp  life  was  resumed— 
drills  and  reviews  being  the  order  of  the 
day.  Camp  life  under  tents  in  a  Virginia 
winter  is,  or  was,  decidedly  unpleasant.  The 
changes  in  weather  conditions  were  very 
marked,  the  extremes  of  cold  and  heat,  of 
snow  and  rain,  following  each  other  in  rapid 
succession.  Such  protection  as  the  troops 
were  able  to  provide  for  themselves  had  to 
be  improvised  out  of  their  shelter  tents,  sup 
plemented  with  such  other  material  as  could 
be  procured  about  camp  or  in  the  near  vicinity. 
During  this  period  Uncle  Sam  was  not  very 
prodigal  in  providing  for  the  comfort  of  the 
soldiers.  He  was  busily  engaged  in  more  im 
portant  matters.  The  men  were  alive,  and 


AN  OCCASIONAL  "  GROWL."  389 

• 

should  have  been  satisfied.  They  received  pay 
occasionally,  and  sometimes,  but  not  often, 
got  full  rations.  Notwithstanding  their  de 
privations,  there  were  practically  no  expres 
sions  of  serious  discontent.  The  army  was 
composed  of  citizens  of  the  average  class,  but 
with  more  than  the  average  intelligence,  and 
they  understood  and  appreciated  the  difficul 
ties  under  which  the  Government  labored. 
Nearly,  if  not  all,  the  soldiers  realized  that  the 
officials  at  Washington  and  elsewhere  were 
doing  the  best  they  could  under  the  circum 
stances.  The  men  growled  occasionally  about 
the  pay  not  coming  and  about  the  scarcity 
of  "  grub,"  as  all  kinds  of  food  was  classified, 
but  it  was  only  a  soldier's  growl,  and  in 
many  instances  the  man  who  growled  the 
loudest  would  march  farthest,  fight  the  hardest, 
and  go  without  food  the  longest. 

The  field  encampment  of  an  army  in  active 
service,  in  the  winter,  is  very  far  from  being  a 
neatly  and  systematically  arranged  place,  clean, 
fresh,  and  pleasant  to  the  eye.  It  is  not  such 
as  one  sees  in  the  usual  summer  camp,  where 
there  is  an  ample  supply  of  roomy  tents 
arranged  symetrically  in  column  with  the 
tents  of  the  officers  in  their  proper  position 
and  everything  about  it  bright,  fresh  and 
orderly.  In  the  presence  of  the  enemy  the 


390   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

location  of  the  camp  is  rarely  an  ideal  one  and 
seldom  a  matter  of  choice.  Tents  must  be 
pitched  and  camps  located  with  a  view  to  the 
exigency  of  the  situation.  Hillsides  and  ra 
vines  must  be  utilized  as  well  as  the  more 
level  ground.  As  a  consequence  many  of  the 
regimental  camps  were  by  reason  of  surface 
conditions,  very  irregular  in  their  formation. 
It  was  not  always  practicable  to  conform  to 
the  strict  rules  and  plans  of  camp  enjoined  by 
the  regulations.  The  irregularity  in  appear 
ance  was  heightened  by  the  fact  that  at  this 
period  of  the  war  there  was  little  or  no 
uniformity  in  the  tents  issued  to  the  troops. 
Occasionally  part  of  a  regiment  or  possibly  a 
company  here  and  there  was  supplied  with 
wall,  Sibley  or  A  tents,  while  others,  and  by 
far  the  greater  number,  had  to  be  contented 
with  the  regular  shelter,  or  dog  tent,  which 
was  originally  intended  only  for  shelter  while 
the  soldier  was  actually  on  the  march.  The 
ingenuity  displayed  by  the  men  in  constructing 
comparatively  comfortable  quarters  out  of  the 
material  at  hand  was  really  remarkable.  One 
method  was  to  excavate  a  celler  three  or  four 
feet  deep,  over  which  the  tent  (if  of  the  wall 
or  A  pattern)  was  set  up.  This  arrangement 
was  warmer  and  furnished  greater  head  room 
than  if  the  tent  had  been  simply  pitched  on 


WINTER  Q  UAR  TERS  ARCHITECTURE.  3  9 1 

the  ground  in  the  usual  way,  while  it  also 
admitted  of  having  a  fire,  which  was  not 
practicable  in  a  tent  erected  on  the  surface. 
In  the  latter  case  there  was  no  outlet  for  the 
smoke  unless  the  tent  itself  was  left  open. 
With  the  cellar  attachment  a  horizontal  hole 
was  made  in  the  earth  in  the  side  of  the 
cellar  wall,  generally  opposite  the  entrance,  of 
sufficient  size  to  serve  as  a  fire-place.  From 
the  fire-place  a  perpendicular  opening  was 
carried  to  the  surface  for  a  flue,  over  which  a 
chimney,  either  of  empty  barrels  or  of  clay  and 
sticks  was  built,  high  enough  to  safely  conduct 
the  smoke  and  heated  air  from  the  fire  above 
the  ridge-pole  of  the  tent,  thereby  lessening 
the  chances  of  fire.  If  the  builders  of  the 
habitation  had  only  shelter  tents  as  a  founda 
tion  for  their  work  they  built  a  log  structure 
high  enough  to  give,  with  the  cellar  included, 
sufficient  height ;  gable  ends  were  carried  up, 
light  pole  rafter  laid  on  these  and  the  shelter 
tents  buttoned  together,  stretched  over  for  a 
roof. 

If  the  ground  was  not  suitable  for  a  cellar, 
by  reason  of  being  too  wet,  or  so  stony  as  to 
be  too  difficult  to  excavate,  the  log  structure 
was  put  up  on  the  surface.  If  the  builders 
possessed  a  tent,  the  log  pen  need  be  only 
three  or  four  feet  high;  then  with  the  tent 


392    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

pitched  securely  on  top  of  the  low  wall  they 
had  a  house  high  enough  to  enable  them  to 
move  around  in  comfortably.  If  they  had  only 
their  individual  shelter  tents  to  help  out  with, 
the  walls  had  to  be  carried  up  to  the  height  of 
a  man  and  roofed  with  the  buttoned  tents  as 
in  the  first  example. 

Making  provisions  for  a  fire  was  much  more 
difficult  when  the  above-ground  style  of  archi 
tecture  was  adopted.  It  was  necessary  to  leave 
an  opening  in  one  side  of  the  log  structure 
about  two  or  three  feet  square  for  a  fire-place. 
The  hearth  was  outside  of  the  wall,  after  the 
plan  almost  universally  followed  in  the  South, 
the  fire-place  being  an  oven-shaped  structure 
of  earth,  or  of  earth  and  stones,  with  a  chimney 
of  the  usual  kind  erected  over  it. 

When  one  of  these  houses  was  well  banked 
with  earth,  the  openings  between  the  logs  well 
chinked  with  clay,  and  a  good  fire  burning 
on  the  hearth,  there  was  a  surprising  degree  of 
solid  comfort  in  it.  To  a  man  coming  off 
guard  where  he  had  been  exposed  to  the  rain 
or  snow  for  twenty-four  hours  it  certainly 
seemed  like  homely  luxury. 

The  general  appearance  of  camp  could  not 
be  said  to  be  inviting  to  one  unaccustomed  to 
it.  The  stranger  viewing  it,  or  even  the  con 
valescent  returning  after  an  absence  more  or 


HO  W  IT  L  OOKED.  393 

less  protracted,  saw  that  there  had  been  no 
attempt  at  architectural  uniformity.  Indeed, 
this  would  have  been  impossible  with  the 
materials  at  hand. 

As  he  gazed  at  the  various  structures 
throughout  the  camps,  with  their  canvas  roofs 
discolored  by  various  kinds  of  dirt  stains,  and 
with  their  gaping  rents  caused  by  storms  or 
black  margined  holes  burned  by  sparks  from 
their  own  chimneys,  in  some  cases  patched 
with  stray  bits  of  old  rubber  blankets  or  odd 
pieces  of  discarded  tent  cloth  of  almost  every 
hue,  he  would  not  have  been  inclined  to  wor 
ship  it  as  at  a  shrine  of  beauty.  A  nearer  view 
disclosed  mud  everywhere,  banked  up  against 
the  houses  and  plastered  between  the  logs  to 
keep  out  the  cold;  piles  of  earth  which  had 
been  removed  in  making  the  ditches  which 
surrounded  every  house  to  deflect  the  water 
during  storms  were  visible  everywhere.  The 
company  streets  were  oftentimes  little  better 
than  quagmires,  and  tramping  about  through 
it  all,  were  disconsolate  looking  soldiers,  the 
blue  of  their  uniforms  turned  to  a  dark  brown 
by  the  pine  smoke  of  the  guard  fires  around 
which  they  had  huddled  all  winter.  The 
stranger  within  its  gates  would  conclude  that 
the  two  words  in  the  English  language  which 
best  described  the  camp  were  "  squalor "  and 
"  wretchedness." 


394   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

There  were  exceptions  here,  however,  as  there 
are  in  almost  everything. 

Many  of  the  soldiers  who  were  encamped  on 
the  "  Brick  house  hill  "  that  winter  will  remem 
ber  a  camp  which  was  just  the  opposite  in 
general  appearance  to  those  which  have  been 
described  here.  It  was  the  camp  of  a  Maine 
regiment,  the  number  of  which  cannot  now  be 
recalled.  It  was  located  on  fairly  level  ground, 
at  a  considerable  distance  northwest  of  the 
"  Philips  House,"  where  General  Sumner  had 
his  headquarters,  and  on  a  spot  from  which  all 
the  trees  had  not  yet  been  removed.  This 
gave  it  a  sheltered  appearance  and  invested  it 
with  an  air  of  comfort.  Each  company  street 
was  formed  of  two  rows  of  neatly  built,  com 
fortable  looking  log  houses,  roofed  with  shelter 
tents.  Everything  about  them  and  throughout 
the  camp  presented  an  appearance  of  extreme 
neatness  and  regularity,  one  might  almost  say 
of  thrift.  Everything  had  been  done  in  a  sub 
stantial  and  workmanlike  manner  by  men  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  the  woods  and  were 
past  masters  in  the  art  of  chopping. 

Upon  suddenly  coming  into  this  camp, 
without  having  any  previous  knowledge  of  its 
existence,  the  visitor  might  well  imagine  that 
he  was  entering  a  well  regulated  and  conducted 
New  England  village. 


THE  "MUD  MARCH."  395 

The  monotony  of  camp  life  was  soon  unex 
pectedly  broken  by  an  attempt  to  resume  offen 
sive  operations  against  Lee.  This  is  what  is 
known  among  soldiers  generally  as  the  "  Mud 
March."  Evidently  there  was  to  be  an  attempt 
made  to  turn  Lee's  left  by  a  rapid  move  up  and 
across  the  Rappahannock  by  the  upper  fords.  It 
proved  to  be  a  lamentable  failure,  however,  but 
not  through  any  fault  or  error  on  the  part  of  the 
general  commanding.  The  movement  had  no 
sooner  been  decided  upon  and  its  execution 
begun  than  the  weather  suddenly  became  mild. 
The  frozen  ground  was  transformed  into  mud, 
"  the  rains  descended  and  the  floods  came," 
and  the  army,  or  such  part  of  it  as  had  already 
started  on  the  march,  found  itself  literally  stuck 
in  the  mud,  unable  to  move  the  field  artillery, 
and  the  attempt  had  to  be  abandoned. 

The  movement  had  not  progressed  far  enough 
to  involve  the  division  to  which  the  Ninth  be 
longed  in  it,  and  consequently  it  did  not  break 
camp  and,  therefore,  were  saved  from  a  most 
unpleasant  experience. 

On  the  26th  of  January,  1863,  the  whole  regi 
ment  was  brought  together  for  the  first  time  in 
nearly  eight  months.  On  that  day  Company 
"F"  (Captain  Hammill)  returned  from  duty  at 
Plymouth,  N.  C,  and  Company  "  G  "  (Captain 
Childs)  from  duty  as  body  guard  to  General 
Burnside,  both  reporting  to  the  regiment. 


396  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

February  5th,  the  Ninth  Corps  received 
orders  to  proceed  to  Fortress  Monroe,  and  on 
the  yth  at  sunrise,  the  Ninth  New  York  struck 
tents,  marched  to  the  railroad  station,  took  the 
cars  for  Aquia  Creek,  boarded  the  transport 
"  Robert  Morris,"  and  at  about  two  o'clock  p.  M. 
started  down  the  Potomac  on  the  way  to  Old 
Point  Comfort. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

ESTABLISHMENT  OF  CAMP  AT  NEWPORT  NEWS  —  THE 
NINTH  ASSIGNED  AS  PROVOST  GUARD  —  CONCEN 
TRATING  TROOPS  —  SUTLERS'  TRIALS  —  RUM  AS  A 
DISTURBER  OF  MARTIAL  DISCIPLINE  —  REVIEW  OF 
THE  NINTH  CORPS—  HORSE  RACING  AND  BASEBALL 

—  ENROUTE    TO    FORTRESS    MONROE    AND    PORTS 
MOUTH—TELEGRAMS—BORROWED  TENTS  IN  SUF 
FOLK—AN    UNWARRANTED    TRAGEDY  — THE    USE 

—  OF  COUNTERSIGNS  —  DEATH  OF  BRIGADIER-GEN 
ERAL  CORCORAN  — OMINOUS  THUNDERS  OF  MUTINY 
CALMED   BY  GENERAL  GETTY  — REMOVAL  TO  FORT 
NANSEMOND  — UNDER  FIRE— FAKE  BULLETS  — CAP 
TURING  A    BATTERY  —  A  LOST   YANKEE    IN    REBEL 
LINES  — THE  LAST  DAY— GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  27— 
DISAPPOINTMENT  OF  RECRUITS— MUSTERED  OUT. 

ABOUT  noon  on  the  8th  of  February,  the 
transport,  with  the  Ninth  on  board^ 
arrived  at  Fortress  Monroe.  Here  it  remained 
at  anchor  until  about  ten  o'clock  the  next  morn 
ing,  when  orders  were  received  to  proceed  to 
Newport  News.  Arriving  at  that  place  the 
regiment  landed  and  was  assigned  to  quarters 
in  some  very  dilapidated  buildings  which  had 
previously  been  used  as  stables.  They  were 
in  an  extremely  filthy  condition,  as  well  as 


398   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

sadly  out  of  repair.  In  obedience  to  orders  the 
men  at  once  began  the  task  of  converting  these 
tumbledown,  filthy  hovels  into  habitable  bar 
racks.  Their  success  was  simply  marvelous. 

It  is  doubtful  if  during  the  entire  term  of 
the  regiment's  service  a  better  example  of  the 
result  of  intelligent,  well  directed  labor  could 
be  shown.  Nearly  all  the  mechanical  trades 
were  well  represented  in  the  regiment,  plenty 
of  skill  and  ability,  supplemented  with  an 
abundance  of  energy — the  latter  a  native  pos 
session  of  these  young  soldiers.  The  work 
progressed  rapidly  and  the  old  stables  were 
very  soon  transformed  into  respectable  looking 
and  comfortable  quarters. 

On  the  next  day  after  its  arrival  the  regiment 
was  designated  as  provost  guard  of  the  post, 
with  Major  Jardine  as  Provost  Marshal. 

This  line  of  duty  being  entirely  new  to 
the  men  of  the  regiment  was  rather  an  agree 
able  variation  from  the  usual  unbroken  mo 
notony  of  ordinary  camp  life  with  its  unvary 
ing  round  of  drills,  parade  and  guard,  and  it 
was  so  accepted  by  them.  Officers  and  men 
entered  on  the  performance  of  their  new  duties 
with  great  satisfaction,  and  with  a  determina 
tion  for  thoroughness  in  the  performance  of 
them. 

After   a   few   days'    experience    in    the    new 


CONCENTRA  TING  TROOPS  A  T  NE  WPOR T  NE  WS.    399 

camp,  it  appeared  evident,  judging  from  the 
activity  prevailing  at  the  post,  and  from  the 
continuous  arrival  of  regiments,  that  the  mil 
itary  authorities  intended  to  concentrate  a 
large  number  of  troops  here,  and  to  make  it 
a  base  for  operations  of  some  kind  in  the  near 
future.  The  detailing  of  the  Ninth  as  provost 
guard  was,  in  the  minds  of  the  men,  confirma 
tion  that  such  was  the  intention.  They  reas 
oned  that  under  ordinary  conditions  any  regi 
ment  would  have  served  for  a  provost  guard, 
but  the  detailing  of  the  Ninth  denoted  that 
extraordinary  conditions  were  about  to  de 
velop. 

Regiment  after  regiment  continued  to  arrive, 
following  each  other  in  rapid  succession  until, 
in  a  comparatively  short  time  the  whole  of  the 
gth  Corps  was  encamped  on  the  high  bank 
of  the  James.  The  place  which  a  short  time 
before  had  been  almost  deserted  was  now 
occupied  by  nearly  twenty  thousand  men. 

The  swarms  of  sutlers,  who  had  been  labor 
ing  under  great  difficulties  during  all  the  time 
the  army  was  on  the  march  through  Virginia, 
far  away  from  its  base,  became  suddenly  alert, 
and  were  keen  to  take  whatever  advantage  the 
situation  offered  for  catching  the  trade  which 
they  saw  was  sure  to  follow  the  arrival  of  such 
a  large  number  of  soldiers  at  the  post. 


4OO   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NE  W  YORK  VOL  UNTEERS. 

For  a  long  time  these  sutlers  had  been  endur 
ing  conditions  very  unfavorable  to  them,  but 
which  always  prevail  during  the  progress  of  an 
active  campaign.  While  following  the  army 
on  the  march  their  stock  in  trade  had  to  be 
transported  in  wagons  and  their  safety  and 
convenience  were  not  considered  to  any  very 
great  extent  by  either  the  commanding  general 
or  his  principal  subordinates.  They,  therefore, 
had  to  trust  to  Providence  for  getting  from 
point  to  point,  or  from  one  camp  or  halting 
place  to  another,  without  being  captured  by  the 
Johnnies.  They  were  frequently  treated  with 
scant  courtesy  by  those  in  command,  especially 
when  they  happened  to  interfere  in  any  way 
with  the  free  movement  of  troops,  as  they  some 
times  did  by  obstructing  the  road,  bridge  or 
ford.  The  long  haul  was  very  expensive  and 
the  risk  of  capture  was  very  great,  not  only  by 
the  scouting  parties  and  moving  bodies  of  the 
enemy  but,  under  certain  conditions,  by  their 
friends  also. 

Discipline  is  always  more  or  less  relaxed 
when  an  army  is  on  the  march,  and  the  longer 
the  march  the  greater  the  relaxation.  In  a  per 
manent  camp,  under  ordinary  conditions,  the 
stock  of  the  sutler  would  be  just  as  safe  as  in  a 
civil  community,  but  when  the  army  was  on 
the  march,  if  it  should  happen  to  be  dis- 


THE  TROUBLES  OF  THE  SUTLER.  4O1 

covered  at  any  place  outside  of  the  range  of 
vision  of  such  commissioned  officers  as  might 
realize  the  importance  of  their  responsibility,  it 
would  be  considered  by  soldiers  generally  as 
legitimate  spoil,  and  in  all  probability  would  be 
captured  and  appropriated. 

From  the  above  the  reader  must  not  con 
clude  that  robbery  was  practiced  generally  by 
the  soldiers  during  the  war,  or  that  men  who 
would  rob  a  sutler's  wagon,  would,  under 
normal  conditions,  steal  the  property  of  another. 
Scattered  all  over  the  land  are  men  holding 
high  positions  of  honor  and  trust,  who,  when 
soldiers,  assisted  in  robbing  a  sutler,  and  were 
glad  of  the  opportunity.  The  doubter  of  this 
statement  may  ask  the  judge,  congressman, 
clergyman,  physician,  merchant  or  lawyer  who 
served  in  the  ranks  during  the  Rebellion,  if  he 
ever  did  such  a  thing.  Watch  the  expression 
of  his  face  and  see  how  his  eye  will  light  up 
as  his  thoughts  revert  to  those  days  when  mis 
chief  was  looked  upon  as  a  virtue,  and  all  the 
wild  pranks  committed  on  the  march  or  in  the 
camp  were  considered  as  simply  ebullitions  of 
animal  spirits. 

It  was  but  natural  that  the  arrival  of  a  large 
body  of  troops  at  Newport  News,  which  was  so 
easy  of  access  by  water  from  near-by  Northern 
ports,  should  be  looked  upon  by  many  army 


4O2  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

traders  as  the  sunshine  in  which  their  hay 
should  be  made,  and  they  accordingly  pro 
ceeded  immediately  to  take  advantage  of  it. 
Almost  as  soon  as  the  first  bodies  of  troops 
were  landed,  vessels  loaded  with  sutlers'  stores 
began  to  arrive  from  Baltimore  and  other 
places  at  the  north.  A  goodly  proportion  of 
many  of  the  cargoes,  and  in  some  instances 
almost  the  whole  cargo,  consisted  of  rum. 

The  supplying  of  liquors  to  soldiers  during 
the  war  caused  more  trouble  and  brought 
about  more  breaches  of  discipline  and  military 
law  than  all  other  causes  combined.  A  single 
gallon  of  rum  introduced  into  a  regiment  will, 
for  the  time  being,  destroy  the  discipline  of 
years.  Everybody  in  the  army  who  was  at 
all  observant  was  aware  of  this,  yet  almost 
everyone,  excepting  such  officers  as  realized 
the  responsibility  resting  upon  them,  encour 
aged,  or  at  least  did  not  discourage  the  traffic. 
It  was  principally  to  prevent  this  traffic  or  to 
break  it  up  if  established  that  the  Ninth  was 
appointed  provost  guard.  Major  Jardine  was 
just  the  man  for  the  work.  He  was  shrewd 
and  energetic,  and  while  it  was  practically 
impossible  to  at  once  entirely  stop  the  intro 
duction  of  liquor  into  camp,  he  and  his  assist 
ants  by  their  vigilance  and  the  severe  measures 
enforced  against  offenders,  gradually  put  an 
end  to  it. 


RE  VIE  WS  AND  RECREA  TIONS.  4O3 

By  the  latter  part  of  February  the  whole  of 
the  Ninth  Corps  had  arrived,  and  on  the  25th 
of  that  month  there  was  a  grand  review  of 
all  the  troops  at  the  post.  The  various  com 
mands  were  in  excellent  condition,  both  in 
regard  to  equipment  and  discipline  and  pre 
sented  a  magnificent  spectacle  as  they  marched 
past  the  reviewing  officer. 

Experience  had  taught  the  veterans  and  the 
observant  ones  in  the  army  that  the  review^  of 
large  bodies  of  troops  was  always  a  preliminary 
to  some  important  movement,  consequently 
the  strategists  among  the  soldiers  at  once 
began  planning  their  campaigns,  and  the  camp 
was  soon  filled  with  rumors  regarding  the  next 
move. 

As  spring  advanced  and  the  weather  be 
came  milder  the  men  were  able  to  get  along 
without  the  fires  they  had  been  hugging  so 
long  and  to  move  about  with  less  discomfort 
from  mud  and  kindred  evils  than  during  the 
inclement  winter.  Consequently  there  was 
more  time  spent  in  the  open  air,  the  benefit 
of  which  was  soon  apparent  in  the  improved 
appearance  of  all.  Both  officers  and  men 
began  to  organize  sports  and  recreations  of 
divers  kinds  with  which  to  vary  the  monotony 
of  drills  and  parades  and  to  enliven  life  in 
camp.  Horse-racing  became  quite  popular 


4O4   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

among  the  officers,  and  on  the  evenings  when 
matches  were  decided  thousands  of  spectators 
assembled  at  the  course  to  yell,  applaud  or  bet 
for  or  on  their  respective  favorites.  This 
favorite  was  in  every  case  the  horse  which 
belonged  to  or  which  was  ridden  by  an  officer 
belonging  to  their  own  regiment  or  particular 
sub-division  of  the  army.  Those  who  bet  on 
the  result  were  always  influenced  by  the  same 
feelings.  Points  were  not  taken  into  account 
at  all,  it  was  simply  "  ours  against  theirs " 
always.  The  great  race  of  the  season  was  one 
between  the  horses  of  Colonel  Hawkins  and 
Captain  Stevens  of  the  staff,  each  ridden  by 
its  respective  owner.  It  was  run,  as  all  the 
races  were,  just  before  "  retreat,"  which  was  the 
hour  when  everybody  but  the  guard  was  off 
duty,  and  was  attended  by  a  big  crowd  from 
all  the  brigades,  including  the  whole  of  the 
Ninth  who  were  off  duty.  These  latter  con 
sidered  it  a  bounden  duty  to  be  present  and  to 
yell  for  their  favorite.  Colonel  Hawkins  came 
in  a  winner,  to  the  immense  gratification  of  the 
men  of  his  regiment  and  the  chagrin  and 
humiliation  of  the  partisans  of  Captain  Stevens. 
Baseball  " nines"  were  organized  in  a  number 
of  regiments  and  many  games  played  between 
them  in  the  interval  between  afternoon  drill 
and  dress  parade.  The  "nines"  of  the  Ninth 


VICTORS  IN  THE  GAMES.  4OS 

and  the  5ist  New  York  played  a  series  of 
games  during  the  early  part  of  March,  in  which 
the  Zouaves  were  nearly  always  victorious, 
much  to  the  gratification  of  the  boys  of  the 
Ninth,  who  were  wont,  at  the  conclusion  of 
each  game,  to  express  their  feelings  in  much 
noisy  tumult  and  with  many  sarcastic  inquiries 
directed  to  the  men  of  the  5ist  as  to  what  if 
any  game  said  5ist  could  play  better  than 
baseball. 

These  may  seem  small  matters  to  chronicle 
in  the  history  of  a  regiment,  but  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  they  were  of  very  great  importance  to 
the  men  of  the  regiment.  They  served  to 
enliven  and  give  variety  to  camp  life;  were 
recreation  and  amusement  for  all,  and  were 
looked  forward  to  with  delightful  anticipation 
and  remembered  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure. 

During  the  early  part  of  March  troops  began 
to  leave  Newport  News  for  some  unknown 
destination,  and  by  the  middle  of  the  month 
regiments  were  being  sent  away  almost  daily. 

As  early  as  the  yth  of  the  month  the  regi 
ment  had  received  orders  to  prepare  three  days' 
cooked  rations  and  be  ready  to  move  at  a 
moment's  notice.  Nobody  seemed  to  know  the 
destination  of  the  troops  that  had  already  left, 
or  were  leaving  daily,  but  rumors  were  plentiful 
in  camp  and  new  ones  were  being  put  in  cir- 


4O6   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

culation  almost  every  hour  about  the  new  field 
of  operations  to  which  the  troops  were  destined. 
Each  new  report  differed  from  all  others  that 
had  preceded  it,  but  every  one  was  discussed 
with  great  interest  and  animation  and  with 
many  disputes  and  arguments  among  the  men 
in  relation  to  grand  strategy,  the  future  move 
ments  of  the  army  and  the  plans  of  the  generals. 

The  regiment  continued  in  this  state  of  un 
certainty  day  after  day,  waiting  for  orders,  but 
they  did  not  come. 

The  command  of  the  post  had  now  devolved 
on  Colonel  Hawkins,  as  he  was  the  ranking 
officer  present. 

On  the  1 3th,  the  3rd  Brigade  of  the  3rd  Div 
ision  embarked  on  transports  and  proceeded 
toward  their  unknown  destination,  and  on  the 
day  following,  all  the  rest  of  the  division, 
except  part  of  the  ist  Brigade,  to  which  the 
Ninth  belonged,  followed  it.  On  that  day  the 
regiment  was  relieved  from  provost  guard  by 
the  5 ist  New  York. 

About  daybreak  on  the  ist  of  April,  marching 
orders  were  at  last  received  and  the  company 
and  regimental  property  was  soon  packed  and 
safely  stowed  on  board  the  transport  at  the 
wharf,  but  instead  of  embarking  thereon 
the  regiment,  presumably  by  orders,  took  the 
road  and  marched  to  Fortress  Monroe,  where 


ON  THE  MOVE  AT  LAST.  4O7 

it  arrived  at  about  four  o'clock  that  after 
noon.  Tents  were  issued,  which  were  soon 
pitched,  and  before  tattoo  all  the  work  had 
been  completed  and  the  regiment  was  com 
fortably  encamped.  On  the  3d,  camp  was 
changed  to  Camp  Hamilton  where  the  regiment 
remained  until  the  loth,  when  orders  were 
received  to  proceed  to  Suffolk,  Va.  At  sun 
down  that  day  it  embarked  on  the  transport 
"  Robt.  A.  Morris,"  and  about  midnight  arrived 
at  Portsmouth,  remaining  on  board  until  day 
light  next  morning. 

Colonel  Hawkins  was  not  relieved  from  the 
command  of  the  brigade  when  marching  orders 
were  issued  to  the  regiment  and,  therefore,  was 
not  in  command.  About  the  time  it  departed 
from  Newport  News  he  was  either  ordered  or 
requested  to  proceed  to  Washington  on  some 
matter  on  which  the  military  authorities  were 
consulting  and  did  not  join  the  regiment  which 
had  arrived  at  Suffolk,  and  assume  command 
until  the  morning  of  April  i2th. 

The  fact  that  the  regiment  had  remained  so 
long  without  orders  while  such  a  large  percent 
age  of  the  corps  had  departed,  or  were  depart 
ing  for  a  new  field  of  action,  had  caused  a  great 
deal  of  speculation  and  discussion  among  the 
rank  and  file.  Every  imaginable  theory  was 
advanced  by  the  camp  strategists  and  sea- 


4O8    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

lawyers  in  the  regiment  to  explain  it,  but  none 
of  them  appeared  to  be  entirely  satisfactory. 
The  most  plausible  one  and  the  one  most  gen 
erally  accepted  was,  that  inasmuch  as  the  regi 
ment's  term  of  service  would  expire  in  about  one 
month,  the  military  authorities  had  concluded 
to  (as  the  men  expressed  it)  "  let  the  boys  take 
it  easy"  until  the  time  came  to  send  them  home. 

The  following  telegrams  copied  from  official 
records  may  throw  some  light  on  the  question. 
They  at  least  show  that  the  military  authori 
ties  were  aware  that  the  Ninth  New  York  existed 
and  that,  to  a  certain  extent  at  least,  its  reputa 
tion  with  said  authorities  was  good. 

Official  records,  Vol.  18,  p.  582,  April  4,  1863. 

General  Dix  sends  despatch  to  General  Keyes, 
commanding  at  Yorktown,  that  he  leaves  for 
Washington  that  day,  and  says:  "I  have  prom 
ised  General  Peck,  in  case  he  is  attacked,  to 
send  for  the  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers, 
which  is  at  Camp  Hamilton,  and  belongs  to 
Getty's  Division." 

On  April  10,  1863,  General  Keyes,  from 
Fortress  Monroe,  telegraphed  General  Peck  at 
Suffolk:  "  I  will,  when  the  enemy  advances  on 
you,  send  Hawkins'  Zouaves  and  other  aid 
nearly  equivalent." 

And  on  the  same  day  the  General  telegraphed 
from  Fortress  Monroe  to  General  Halleck: 


CERTAIN  REGIMENTAL  HISTORIANS.  4O9 

"  Upon  Peck's  urgent  call  I  have  sent  the  Ninth 
New  York  to  Suffolk  to-day." 

On  page  598,  April  n,  1863,  Keyes  tele 
graphed  to  General  Peck :  "  I  have  this  moment 
received  your  telegram  announcing  that  the 
enemy  is  moving  upon  you  in  large  force.  I 
suppose  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves  are  now  with 
you." 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  reader  to  the  fact  that  these 
telegrams  demonstrate  that  the  Ninth  New 
York  Volunteers  was  held  in  higher  estimation 
by  the  officers  who  signed  them  and  by  those 
to  whom  they  were  addressed  than  one  would 
believe  possible  after  reading  certain  so-called 
regimental  histories,  the  emanations  of  J.  Madi 
son  Drake,  Brigadier-General,  N.  J.,  and  his 
fellow  writers,  on  the  battle  of  Roanoke  Island. 
The  reason  is  perfectly  plain.  The  confidence 
of  Generals  Dix,  Keyes,  Peck  and  Halleck  was 
inspired  by  the  reputation  gained  by  the  regi 
ment  during  its  two  years'  of  service,  while  the 
writings  of  the  authors  above  mentioned,  were 
governed  by  the  wish  to  manufacture  records  for 
their  several  regiments  before  there  had  been 
either  time  or  opportunity  for  them  to  earn 
them,  and  by  reciting  alleged  occurrences  which 
never  happened,  and  of  which  none  of  them 
could  have  had  knowledge,  under  the  existing 
conditions,  even  had  they  taken  place. 


41O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

When  the  Ninth  landed  at  Portsmouth  on  the 
morning  of  the  nth,  they  found  that  owing  to 
the  advance  of  the  enemy  on  Suffolk  and  the 
alarm  and  confusion  resulting  therefrom,  the 
railroad  service  had  been  discontinued  and  the 
only  way  of  reaching  the  besieged  town  was  by 
marching.  After  marching  about  four  miles  the 
company  and  regimental  property  and  knap 
sacks  were  packed  in  wagons  and  the  regiment 
completed  the  march  of  twenty-seven  miles 
over  the  railroad  sleepers.  The  march  was  a 
very  fatiguing  one.  It  rained  considerably 
during  the  day  and  wrhen  at  last  Suffolk  was 
reached  the  men  were  wet,  hungry,  and  very 
tired.  The  marching  on  the  ties  was  particu 
larly  fatiguing  to  men  loaded  down  with  the 
ordinary  equipments. 

It  was  late  when  Suffolk  was  reached,  and 
for  the  last  hour  or  two  of  the  march  the  sub 
ject  uppermost  in  the  thoughts  of  the  men  was 
where  they  were  to  find  quarters  when  they 
arrived  at  their  destination.  After  standing 
in  the  ranks  for  some  time,  waiting  to  be 
assigned  to  their  position,  it  was  ascertained 
that  the  iO3d  New  York  —  a  regiment  of 
their  own  brigade  which  had  preceded  them 
some  days — was  on  guard  duty  at  the  ex 
treme  front.  This  left  their  camp  unoccupied, 
so  the  Ninth  unceremoniously  turned  into 


THE  EVE  OF  A  TRAGEDY.  411 

their  tents  and  proceeded  to  make  themselves 
comfortable  and  at  home,  knowing  they  would 
be  welcome. 

On  this  night  a  tragedy  occurred,  which  for 
a  time  threatened  serious  consequences.  This 
was  what  seemed  at  that  time,  and  which  after 
the  lapse  of  so  many  years  still  seems  to  be, 
the  unjustifiable  and  wanton  killing  of  Lieuten 
ant-Colonel  Kimball  by  General  Corcoran. 

As  stated  above,  it  was  late  in  the  night  when 
the  regiment  arrived  in  camp.  There  were  no 
provisions  made  for  quarters  for  either  officers 
or  men.  It  had  been  raining  all  day,  and  if  any 
sleep  was  to  be  had  it  was  necessary  to  find 
shelter.  Colonel  Kimball  was  invited  to  share 
the  tent  of  Major  Bowers,  of  a  New  Hamp 
shire  regiment,  who  had  been  a  companion  in 
arms  of  Kimball  in  Mexico,  being  a  lieutenant 
in  the  same  company.  It  was  necessary  for 
Kimball  to  visit  Getty's  headquarters  to  report 
the  arrival  of  the  regiment,  and  to  receive  orders, 
which  he  proceeded  to  do,  Major  Bowers  mean 
while  preparing  a  place  for  him  to  sleep.  While 
on  his  way  to  make  this  call,  or  on  his  return 
therefrom,  Kimball's  attention  was  attracted  to  a 
sentry  challenging  a  group  of  mounted  men. 
The  challenged  party  did  not  respond  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  sentry,  who  again  demanded 
the  countersign.  From  among  the  challenged 


412    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

party  came  voices,  some  raised  in  expostulation 
and  others  in  explanation  of  their  identity  and 
their  destination.  Colonel  Kimball  advanced 
toward  the  disputants,  at  the  same  time  saying, 
"  That's  right,  sentry ;  let  no  one  pass  without 
the  countersign."  He  then  challenged  the 
party  himself,  demanding  the  countersign. 
The  group  of  strangers  numbered  a  dozen  or 
more  men,  some  of  them  in  military  uniform, 
others  in  citizen's  dress.  As  they  could  not  or 
would  not  give  the  countersign,  the  principal 
spokesman  of  the  party  merely  reiterating  the 
statement  that  he  was  General  Corcoran,  Kim- 
ball  resolutely  determined  that  they  should  not 
pass,  and  placed  himself  in  such  a  position  as  to 
obstruct  the  passage  of  the  leader.  After  a  few 
more  words  of  altercation,  a  shot  rang  out, 
and  Kimball  fell  and  instantly  expired. 

The  bullet  from  Corcoran's  pistol  had  passed 
through  his  neck,  severing  one  of  the  carotid 
arteries,  and  causing  death  almost  instantly. 

A  day  or  two  after  this  tragedy,  Brig.-Gen. 
Michael  Corcoran  sent  a  letter  to  Colonel 
Hawkins,  in  which  he  set  forth  what  he  evi 
dently  considered  the  extenuating  circum 
stances  or  justification  of  his  act.  This  Better 
is  as  follows : 


COR  CO  RAN  'S  EXPLANA  TIONS.  4 1 3 

SUFFOLK,  VA.,  April  13,  1863. 

COLONEL: — To  prevent  any  misapprehension  I  send  you  a  brief 
statement  in  relation  to  the  sad  affair  of  Sunday  morning,  which  re 
sulted,  I  regret  to  say,  in  the  death  of  Lieut. -Col.  Edgar  E.  Kimball. 
*  *  *  I  proceeded  along  the  main  road  toward  the  front  lines  *  *  * 
when  an  officer,  whose  rank  I  could  not  recognize  (the  night  being  very 
dark)  rushed  out  in  front  of  me  and  ordered  a  halt,  with  the  additional 
remark,  "  I  want  the  countersign."  *  *  *  I  requested  to  know  the 
object  of  his  halting  me,  and  his  name,  rank,  and  other  authority,  but 

could  obtain  no  other  reply  than  it  was  "  none  of  my business  ; 

you  cannot  pass  here."  I  expostulated  with  him  *  *  *  told  him  he 
must  let  me  pass.  I  asked  him  if  he  knew  who  he  was  talking  to,  and 
gave  him  my  name  and  rank  *  *  *  but  it  was  of  no  avail.  He 

answered  :  "  I  do  not  care  a who  you  are."     I  then  told  him  I 

should  pass  and  warned  him  to  get  out  of  my  way,  and  attempted  to 
proceed.     He  thereupon  put  himself  in  a  determined  attitude  to  pre 
vent  my  progress.  *   *   *  It  was  at  this  point  I  used  my  weapon.  *  *  * 
MICHAEL   CORCORAN,  Brig.-General. 

Without  the  testimony  of  the  above  letter 
over  his  own  signature,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
believe  that  any  man  could  be  found  in  the 
army — especially  one  who  had  secured  the 
rank  of  brigadier-general — so  utterly  regardless 
of  all  questions  of  right  and  justice,  so  de 
ficient  in  ordinary  intelligence  and  so  grossly 
ignorant  of  the  simple  primary  rules  and 
practice  of  camps  or  troops  in  time  of  war, 
that  he  would,  when  abroad  in  the  night 
time,  in  the  immediate  presence  of  the  enemy, 
surrounded  by  members  of  his  staff  and  a 
crowd  of  visiting  friends,  have  answered  the 
demand  for  the  countersign  by  volunteering 
information  as  to  his  supposed  name,  rank 
and  purpose. 

It  is  the  well-known  practice  in  all  civilized 


414   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

armies  to  enforce  by  both  precept  and  practice 
the  rule  that  nobody — not  even  the  soldier's 
own  captain  or  colonel  or  most  intimate 
friend — shall  be  recognized  at  night  or  dealt 
with  otherwise  than  as  a  stranger  and  an 
enemy,  unless  he  properly  identifies  himself 
by  giving  the  countersign.  There  is  no  de 
parture  from  this  rule,  "  Know  nobody,  at 
night."  A  challenged  person  who  attempts  to 
identify  himself  by  such  explanations  as  an 
nouncing  his  supposed  name  and  rank,  or 
stating  his  alleged  objects  and  mission,  at 
once  excites  the  suspicion  of  the  veteran  sol 
dier,  and  causes  him  to  be,  if  possible,  still 
more  upon  his  guard.  Camps  and  garrisons 
have  been  surprised  and  disasters  have  fol 
lowed  in  numerous  instances  by  departure 
from  this  plain  and  simple  rule. 

If  parties  of  men,  either  mounted  or  on  foot, 
should  have  the  right  to  freely  move  through 
or  about  camps  or  bivouacs  at  night,  by 
simply  announcing,  when  questioned,  I,  or 
we,  are  so  and  so,  going  to  such  a  place,  as 
they  might  care  to  mention,  there  would  be  no 
use  in  maintaining  guards  at  all.  Everybody, 
enemies  as  well  as  friends,  could  then  go  wher 
ever  inclination,  interest  or  desire  called  them. 

Among  the  many  instances  where  surprise 
and  loss  has  occurred  when  plausible  ex- 


MOSBY'S  ANSWER  TO  THE  SENTRY'S  CHALLENGE.  41S 

planations  have  been  accepted  by  sentries 
and  others  in  lieu  of  the  countersign,  is  the 
following,  which  happened  about  a  month 
before  the  fatal  night  on  which  Colonel  Kim- 
ball  was  killed,  and  which  was  probably 
recalled  to  his  mind  when  he  discovered 
Corcoran  and  his  mixed  cavalcade  attempt 
ing  to  ignore  the  demand  for  the  counter 
sign  and  offering  explanations  instead. 

On  the  8th  of  March,  1863,  Col.  John  S. 
Mosby  and  a  detachment  of  his  command,  rode 
into  the  Federal  camp  at  Fairfax  Courthouse. 
They  had  succeeded  in  avoiding  the  outly 
ing  camps  and  pickets,  the  gleaming  camp- 
fires  serving  as  beacons  to  warn  them  where 
danger  lay.  They  were  not  interfered  with 
until  they  arrived  in  the  heart  of  the  camp, 
when  a  sentry  challenged  them.  His  chal 
lenge  was  answered  with  the  information  that 
they  were  a  detachment  of  the  5th  New  York 
Cavalry  and  were  waiting  there  for  the  rest  of 
the  regiment.  They  chatted  familiarly  with  the 
sentinel  until  the  opportunity  they  were  waiting 
for  arrived,  when  a  pistol  was  suddenly  clapped 
to  his  ear  and  he  was  informed  that  he  was  a 
prisoner  and  that  his  death  would  instantly  fol 
low  any  attempt  to  alarm  the  camp.  They  then 
proceeded  to  the  quarters  occupied  by  the  Union 
Commander,  Brigadier-  General  Stougton. 


416  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

They  informed  the  soldier  on  guard  that  they 
were  bearers  of  dispatches  for  the  General, 
and  succeeded  in  capturing  him  in  the  same 
way  they  had  the  other  sentinel.  Part  of  them 
then  secured  the  rest  of  the  guard  while 
the  others  proceeded  to  General  Stoughton's 
room,  and  after  awakening  him  informed  him 
that  he  was  a  prisoner;  that  his  camp  had 
been  completely  surprised  and  was  in  pos 
session  of  Stuart's  cavalry ;  compelled  him  to 
dress ;  took  him,  his  staff,  his  headquarters' 
guard — in  all  32  persons,  58  horses  and  his 
headquarters'  equipage — and  rode  gayly,  chat 
ting  and  laughing  as  they  went,  unmolested, 
out  of  camp,  and  succeeded  in  getting  safely 
away. 

Unfortunately  for  General  Stoughton  and  his 
reputation,  there  was  no  Colonel  Kimball 
awake  in  his  camp  that  night. 

The  official  recognition  of  this  successful 
venture  is  contained  in  the  following  con 
gratulatory  order : 

HEADQUARTERS  CAVALRY  DIVISION,  ARMY  OF 

NORTHERN  VIRGINIA,  March  12,  1863. 
GENERAL  ORDERS : 

.  Captain  John  S.  Mosby  has  for  a  long  time  attracted  the  attention 
of  his  General  by  his  boldness,  skill  and  success,  so  signally  displayed 
in  his  numerous  forays  upon  the  invaders  of  his  native  State.  None 
know  his  daring  enterprise  and  dashing  heroism  better  than  those 
foul  invaders,  though  strangers  themselves  to  such  noble  traits. 

His  late  brilliant  exploit  —  the  capture  of  Brig. -General  Stoughton, 
U.  S.  Army  ;  two  captains,  thirty  other  prisoners,  together  with  their 


LIEUT.  COLONEL  KIMB ALL'S  ANTECEDENTS.     417 

arms  and  equipments,  and  fifty-eight  horses  —  justifies  this  recognition 
in  General  Orders. 

This  feat,  unparalled  in  the  war,  was  performed  in  the  midst  of  the 
enemy's  troops,  at  Fairfax  Court  House,  without  loss  or  injury.  The 
gallant  [band  of  Captain  Mosby  share  the  glory  as  they  did  the 
danger  of  this  enterprise,  and  are  worthy  of  such  a  leader. 

J.  E.  B.  STUART, 

Major-General  Commanding. 

The  above  single  illustration  of  what  some 
times  does  and  what  at  any  time  may  follow  the 
disregard  of  the  simple  axiom  that  the  only 
identification  to  be  received  by  a  sentinel  in  the 
night  is  the  countersign,  would  seem  to  be 
sufficient  to  dispose  of  the  singularly  foolish 
and  childlike  contention  of  Corcoran  and  a  few 
thoughtless  apologists  of  his  act,  that  Kimball 
had  no  right  to  demand  the  countersign  that 
night. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball  was  born  in 
Pembroke,  N.  H.,  June  3,  1822.  He  became  a 
printer  in  his  youth,  and  for  a  number  of  years 
was  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Woodstock  (  Vt.} 
Age.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Mexican  War 
he  abandoned  his  paper  and  raised  a  company  for 
the  service  and  was  assigned  to  Colonel  Ran 
som's  regiment  which  became  thegth  U.S.  Infan 
try.  He  was  commissioned  captain  March  8, 1847; 
brevet-major,  August  20,  1847,  f°r  gallant  and 
meritorious  conduct  at  the  battles  of  Conteras 
and  Cherubusco  ;  honorably  discharged  August 
26,  1848;  commissioned  major  Ninth  New 


418    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

York  Volunteers  May  4,  1861;  lieutenant-colo 
nel  February  1 4, 1 862,  and  died,  as  has  been  seen, 
the  victim  of  a  combination  of  ignorance  and 
arrogance.  He  was  a  gallant  and  intrepid 
soldier,  one  whom  no  dangers  could  daunt 
nor  numbers  terrify  when  either  stood  in  the 
path  of  his  duty  as  a  soldier.  Always  ready  to 
perform  any  act  of  daring  or  to  lead  to  danger 
where  any  man  would  follow,  he  was  the  ad 
miration  of  the  regiment,  the  men  of  which 
sincerely  mourned  his  loss  and  the  manner 
of  it.  Michael  Corcoran  will  be  remembered 
by  many  New  Yorkers  of  ante-bellum  days, 
as  the  colonel  of  a  militia  regiment,  in  which 
position  he  gained  considerable  iiotoriety  by 
flatly  refusing  to  obey  the  lawful  command 
of  his  superior  officer  when  ordered  to  parade 
his  regiment — with  the  command  to  which  it  be 
longed — to  receive  the  Prince  of  Wales  when  on 
his  visit  to  New  York.  Corcoran  was  then,  and 
subsequently  remained  until,  the  breaking  out 
of  the  Rebellion,  the  keeper  of  what  was  known 
in  the  vernacular  of  the  day  as  a  "  three  cent  grog 
shop,"  Hibernia  Hall,  in  Prince  Street,  New 
York  City.  He  went  to  the  front  with  his 
regiment  in  response  to  the  call  for  three 
months'  troops,  was  taken  prisoner  at  Bull  Run 
and  was  confined  some  time  in  Libby  Prison. 
Afterwards  he  was  appointed  brigadier-general 


ALMOST  A  MEETING.  419 

and  served  a  short  time  as  commander  of  the 
Corcoran  Legion.  He  was  killed  by  a  fall  from 
his  horse  shortly  after  the  killing  of  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Kimball,  and  while  engaged  in  a  night 
ride  (accompanied  by  visitors,  citizens  and 
soldiers)  which  was  a  counterpart  of  the  ride 
of  the  nth  of  April,  1863. 

When  Colonel  Kimball's  death,  and  the 
manner  of  it  became  known  throughout  the 
regiment,  which  was  not  until  daylight  the 
following  morning,  there  was  intense  excite 
ment  among  the  men.  The  indignation 
reached  such  a  height  that  serious  conse 
quences  were  feared.  There  was  much  con 
fusion  and  the  scene  for  a  time  savored 
somewhat  of  insubordination,  not  to  say 
mutiny.  Some  of  the  men  loudly  demanded 
that  their  officers  lead  them  to  Corcoran's  head 
quarters  that  they  might  avenge  what  they  all 
considered  the  wanton  and  cowardly  murder 
of  their  Lieutenant-Colonel.  Before  the  point 
of  open  outbreak  was  reached  the  "  assembly" 
was  ordered  sounded  and  the  regiment  "  fell 
in."  The  habit  of  obedience  and  discipline  was 
so  strong  that  the  excited,  almost  uncontrollable 
mob  was  instantly  transformed  into  an  obedient, 
well  disciplined  regiment. 

General  Getty,  who  had  been  sent  for  when 
the  situation  became  serious,  arrived  in  a  few 


420   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

moments.  He  addressed  them  in  a  quieting 
and  assuring  speech,  deploring  the  unfortunate 
occurrence  and  promising  that  a  thorough 
investigation  would  be  had  and  full  justice 
rendered.  He  also,  and  very  wisely  too,  wrote 
an  order,  directing  the  regiment  to  proceed  to 
Fort  Nansemond  at  once,  and  occupy  that  and 
adjacent  works.  This  order  was  written  while 
the  General  sat  on  his  horse  in  front  of  the 
regiment.  The  Ninth  was  at  once  marched  to 
its  new  field  of  duty,  which  was  found  to  be  at 
the  extreme  front,  within  a  short  distance  of  the 
enemy's  rifle  pits,  which  were  on  ground  that 
commanded  the  fort.  It  remained  here  con 
stantly  under  fire  for  twenty-two  days  until  its 
time  expired,  so  fully  occupied  with  the  enemy 
in  front  that  if  his  satanic  majesty  had  wished 
to  brew  mischief  he  could  have  found  no 
heart  or  hands  in  the  regiment  to  do  it  for 
him. 

Longstreet  was  investing  the  place  with  an 
army  estimated  at  thirty  thousand  men.  He 
allowed  the  defenders  no  rest  either  day  or 
night.  His  attempts  to  successfully  assault 
various  parts  of  the  line  were  defeated  in  every 
instance,  however,  and  the  operations  so  far 
as  the  Ninth  was  concerned,  were  confined 
principally  to  sharpshooting  and  occasional 
artillery  duels.  A  portion  of  the  regiment, 


UNDER  FIRE  FROM  THE  RIFLE-PITS  421 

the  whole  of  Company  K,  and  such  other  men 
as  had  been  instructed  in  artillery  drill  at 
Newport  News  under  General  Phelps,  and  at 
Roanoke  Island,  manned  different  batteries 
on  the  line  occupied  by  the  regiment. 

General  Getty  in  his  report  says :  "  The 
artillery  is  especially  deserving  of  great  credit. 
Captain  Morris,  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers, 
with  a  battery  of  2O-pounder  Parrott's,  silenced 
most  effectually  the  enemy's  battery  at  Nor- 
fleet's,  and  afterward  rendered  good  service 
in  silencing  his  batteries  at  Le  Compte's. 

The  rebel  rifle-pits  were  within  easy  range 
of  Fort  Nansemond  and  the  other  Union 
works,  and  the  sharpshooting  was  continuous. 
In  a  very  few  days  the  men  became  accus 
tomed  to  this,  in  a  measure,  and  contented 
themselves  with  returning  in  kind  these  at 
tentions  of  the  enemy.  The  latter  would 
occasionally  become  so  presistent  and  annoy 
ing  that  the  artillery  would  be  compelled  to 
take  part  in  the  dispute  and  by  dropping  shells 
into  the  rifle-pits,  which  they  learned  to  do 
very  skillfully,  would  cause  the  enemy  to 
evacuate  and  scamper  to  better  cover  farther 
to  the  rear.  There  would  then  be  comparative 
peace  for  a  short  time,  but  it  would  soon  be 
as  bad  as  ever. 

As  has  been  stated  before,  the  enemy's  rifle- 


422  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

pits  were  so  situated  that  they  in  part  com 
manded  Fort  Nansemond.  Every  part  of  the 
work  except  that  immediately  behind  the  para 
pet  facing  toward  the  enemy  was  under  the  fire 
of  his  riflemen.  Anyone  exposing  himself  be 
yond  the  shelter  of  the  protecting  parapet 
was  sure  to  be  made  a  target  of  by  the  rebel 
marksmen.  This  condition  of  affairs  afforded 
an  opportunity  for  some  of  the  most  irreverent 
and  fun-loving  among  the  Zouaves  to  extract 
a  good  deal  of  amusement  from  it.  To  do 
this  they  provided  themselves  with  nails  which, 
when  either  officer  or  man  was  discovered  in 
an  exposed  place,  was  thrown  in  such  a  man 
ner  as  to  revolve  swiftly  on  its  shorter  axis, 
making  a  humming  noise  not  unlike  the  sound 
of  a  bullet,  and  as  near  to  the  head  of  the 
victim  as  possible.  The  unconscious  subject 
of  the  trick  would  lose  no  time  in  putting  him 
self  in  a  safer  place,  and  nearly  always  in  a 
most  undignified  and  generally  terror  stricken 
manner.  This  performance  would  appear  to 
throw  the  jokers  into  an  ecstasy  of  glee.  If  the 
victim  were  an  enlisted  man  there  were  howls 
of  derision  and  great  exultation.  If  an  officer 
they  expressed  their  feelings  by  going  through 
many  and  various  bodily  contortions,  silently 
of  course,  but  nevertheless  very  vigorous  and 
demonstrative. 


INNOCENT  EN  JO  YMENT.  423 

The  pinacle  of  demoniac  joy  was  reached 
when  occasionally  a  higher  officer  on  a  tour 
of  inspection  or  observation  would  unwittingly 
place  himself  in  a  position  where  the  trick 
would  be  practiced  on  him  without  danger  of 
discovery.  To  see  him,  as  happened  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  drop  suddenly  on  his  hands 
and  knees  when  he  heard  the  whiz  of  the  nail 
as  it  passed  his  head,  and  in  that  position 
scuttle  undignifiedly  to  a  place  of  shelter,  was 
superlative  glee,  and  possibly  the  memory  of 
it  remains  a  joy  with  some  of  the  wretches 
even  to  this  day. 

At  dusk  on  the  evening  of  the  igth  of  April, 
a  part  of  Hawkins'  Brigade,  the  8th  Connecticut 
and  8gth  New  York,  crossed  the  West  Branch 
of  the  Nansemond  on  ''Stepping  Stones"  and 
captured  the  rebel  Battery  Huger,  with  five 
pieces  of  artillery,  nine  commissioned  officers 
and  one  hundred  and  twenty  men.  This  was 
a  gallant  exploit  for  which  the  troops  engaged 
were  commended  in  general  orders.  Among 
the  officers  especially  mentioned  for  gallantry 
on  the  occasion,  was  Lieutenant  Robert  Mc- 
Kechnie  of  Company  H,  Ninth  New  York,  aide 
to  General  Getty. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  month  heavy 
rain  storms  occurred  but  notwithstanding  this 
the  fighting  continued  active. 


424   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

On  the  30th  of  April  the  enemy  opened  with 
a  new  battery  of  one  "  Whitworth  "  gun,  one 
30  and  one  35-pounder  Parrott.  They  were 
quickly  silenced  by  Captain  Morris  (Company 
K)  detachment,  then  at  Fort  Stevens,  and  con 
sisting  of  men  of  the  Ninth  and  the  gunboat 
"  Commodore  Barney,"  under  command  of 
Lieutenant  Gushing,  U.  S.  N. 

The  expiration  of  the  term  of  service  of 
the  regiment  was  now  rapidly  approaching, 
and  all  other  thoughts  and  considerations  were 
completely  blotted  out  or  lost  sight  of  in  the 
consuming  desire  and  longing  for  home.  For 
weeks  it  had  been  the  all-absorbing  topic,  and 
had  pervaded  the  minds  of  all,  both  sleeping 
and  waking.  There  was  no  relaxation,  how 
ever,  in  the  steady  and  cheerful  performance  of 
every  duty,  and  a  casual  observer  would 
never  have  suspected  that  these  soldiers  —  so 
obedient  and  prompt  to  respond  to  every 
order — were  expecting  almost  hourly  to  be 
relieved  from  duty  and  to  turn  their  faces 
towards  the  homes  and  loved  ones  many  of 
them  had  not  seen  since  their  term  of  service 
began. 

On  the  ist  of  May,  an  attempt  was  made 
to  capture  the  enemy's  rifle-pits  across  the 
river  from  Fort  Nansemond,  from  which  the 
annoying  fire  of  the  sharpshooters  had  harrassed 


A  SHARP  FIGHT.  42B 


the  defenders  so  long.  The  ggth  New  York 
was  detailed  to  make  the  attempt.  They 
crossed  the  river  by  the  bridge,  deployed  on 
the  opposite  bank  and  advanced  rapidly  up 
the  slope  toward  the  enemy's  position  exposed 
to  a  brisk  fire  from  the  sharpshooters  in  the 
pits.  It  appeared  to  be  the  intention  to  move 
rapidly  and  capture  the  line  of  rifle-pits  by 
a  daylight  surprise  before  the  rebel  infantry 
could  be  thrown  forward  to  occupy  them,  in 
which  event  they  could,  with  the  help  of  the 
artillery  in  the  forts,  have  held  them  against 
a  greatly  superior  force.  As  the  attacking 
force  swept  up  the  hill  in  plain  view  of  the  men 
in  the  forts  and  earthworks  on  the  Union  side,  a 
large  body  of  the  enemy's  infantry  was  ob 
served  to  move  out  of  the  woods  beyond,  and 
charge  down  the  hill  toward  the  advancing  line 
of  the  Qgth.  It  looked  from  the  works  as 
though  it  were  a  countercharge  by  the  enemy. 
All  the  guns  that  could  be  brought  to  bear 
opened  on  the  advancing  rebels,  and  it  seemed 
as  though  it  would  be  impossible  for  them 
to  withstand  it,  when  all  at  once  they  disap 
peared  from  view,  having  reached  the  rifle- 
pits  for  which  they  were  rushing,  and  plunging 
into  them  were  out  of  sight  and  well  sheltered 
from  the  fire  of  both  the  forts  and  the  advan 
cing  infantry.  What  had  seemed  from  the 


426   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

forts  to  be  two  bodies  of  infantry  charging 
each  other  was,  in  fact,  a  race  between  the 
attacking  troops  and  the  rebels  as  to  which 
would  be  able  to  reach  the  shelter  of  the 
rifle-pits  first,  and  the  rebels  —  having  the 
shortest  distance  to  go — won.  As  the  line  of 
the  ggth  advanced  up  the  slope,  it  came  within 
range  of  the  artillery  fire  from  the  fort,  which, 
therefore,  had  to  cease,  for  fear  of  inflicting 
damage  on  their  own  men.  When  the  rebel 
reinforcements  which  had  reached  the  rifle-pits 
opened  fire  on  the  troops  advancing  to  the 
attack,  it  seemed  to  the  soldiers  looking  on 
from  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  that  the  99th 
literally  melted  away.  The  fight  was  kept  up 
for  some  time,  the  Union  soldiers  stubbornly 
holding  their  ground,  even  after  all  chance  of 
success  had  vanished;  but  they  were  at  last 
compelled  to  abandon  the  attempt  and  retire 
across  the  river,  leaving  their  dead  and 
wounded  on  the  field. 

Very  soon  after  the  ggth  had  gained  the 
shelter  of  the  earthwork,  and  the  firing  had 
ceased,  several  men  of  the  Ninth  crossed  the 
river,  willing  to  take  their  chances  of  getting 
hit,  in  an  effort  to  render  assistance  to  the 
wounded,  and  later  a  rescue  party  of  volunteers 
was  gathered  and,  under  command  of  Major 
Jardine,  went  over  for  the  same  purpose. 


A  LOST  ZOUAVE.  427 

These  went  over  without  arms,  and  made  little 
if  any  attempt  at  concealment,  only  taking  care 
not  to  show  themselves  in  an  ostentatious 
manner.  The  rebels  showed  an  equally  chiv- 
alric  and  honorable  spirit,  for,  while  there 
was  an  occasional  shot,  their  presence  was  gen 
erally  ignored.  As  the  reward  of  their  labors 
they  brought  over  six  dead  and  forty-three 
wounded. 

An  incident  occurred  in  connection  with  this 
good  work,  an  account  of  which  will  no 
doubt  be  of  interest,  and  which  will  show 
the  spirit  and  feelings  which  animated  many  of 
the  soldiers  on  both  sides  at  this  period  of  the 
war. 

One  of  the  Zouaves  had  become  so  intent  in 
his  search  for  the  wounded  that  he  unwit 
tingly  permitted  darkness  to  overtake  him, 
and  became  suddenly  aware  that  he  was  lost. 
He  could  not  determine  which  was  the  proper 
direction  to  take  to  find  the  river,  which  was  his 
only  landmark,  but  wandered  back  and  forth, 
thoroughly  confused  for  a  time,  not  daring  to 
go  far  in  any  one  direction,  for  fear  of  running 
into  the  enemy's  line.  While  still  in  this  un 
pleasant  frame  of  mind,  he  was  startled  by  seeing 
a  rifle-barrel  suddenly  gleam  in  the  moonlight 
and  a  voice  behind  it  say,  in  accents  which 
plainly  would  admit  of  no  refusal,  "  Come  here, 


428    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Yank."  Our  friend,  knowing  well  that  he 
was  in  a  situation  where  a  man  who  hesitates  is 
lost,  promptly  walked  toward  the  voice,  which 
he  found  belonged  to  a  rebel  soldier  whose 
head  appeared  just  above  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  the  rest  of  the  body  being  in  a  rifle-pit. 
The  Johnny  took  a  good  look  at  the  Yank, 
then  lowered  the  hammer  of  his  gun,  and  said, 
in  rather  a  friendly  way,  "Sit  down,  Yank. 
You  belong  to  the  gth  New  York,  don't  you  ?  " 
"Yes,"  replied  the  Yank.  "Well,"  said  the 
Reb,  "I  thought  your  time  was  out."  "So  it 
is,"  replied  the  Yankee.  "  We  are  going  home 
to-morrow.  At  least,  the  rest  of  the  boys  are." 
But  who  are  you,  and  what  do  you  know  about 
the  gth  New  York?"  "Oh,  I  belong  to  the 
3rd  Georgia,  I  know  a  good  deal  about  your 
regiment,"  said  the  Reb.  The  Zouave  knew 
something  about  the  the  3rd  Georgia,  too,  so 
he  said,  "Isn't  your  time  out,  too?"  "Out 
h — !"  said  the  Reb.  "No,  our  time  is  never 
out.  Time  don't  count  with  us." 

The  conversation  continued  in  this  vein  for 
sometime  longer,  the  Ninth  man  being  very 
uneasy  meantime  in  regard  to  the  final  ending 
of  the  visit,  when  the  Reb  suddenly  interrupted 
the  dialogue  by  saying :  "  Look  here,  Yank,  you 
had  better  be  getting  out  of  here.  My  relief  is 
about  due,  and  if  you  are  found  here  you  will 
be  scooped  in."  The  Zouave  informed  him 


REGIMENT  RELIEVED.     GETTY'S  ORDER.        429 

that  he  was  just  as  anxious  to  go  as  his  enter 
tainer  was  to  have  him  go,  but  that  he  had 
lost  his  bearings  and  did  not  know  in  which 
direction  to  reach  the  river.  His  friend,  the 
enemy,  pointed  out  the  general  direction,  and 
"  reckoned  "  that  if  his  Yankee  guest  should  be 
unable  to  attract  the  attention  of  his  friends  on 
his  own  side,  he  could  swim  the  river  and  get 
back  to  camp  in  that  way.  So  they  parted  with 
a  mutual  good  night,  and  the  Zouave  reached 
the  regiment  in  safety. 

On  the  next  day  the  regiment  was  relieved 
by  the  6th  Massachusetts,  and  orders  were 
issued  to  proceed  to  New  York  for  the  purpose 
of  being  mustered  out.  In  connection  with 
orders  received  for  this  purpose  was  a  farewell 
and  complimentary  one  by  General  Getty,  in 
the  following  form : 

HEADQUARTERS  THIRD  DIVISION,  NINTH  ARMY  CORPS, 

SUFFOLK,  VA.,  May  26,  1863. 
GENERAL  ORDERS,  No.  27. 

After  two  years  of  constant  field  service  the  Ninth  Regiment,  New 
York  State  Volunteers,  are  now  about  to  return  home  ;  their  term  of 
service  having  expired.  Among  the  first  to  spring  to  arms  at  their 
country's  call,  they  now  return  home  after  two  years  of  faithful  and 
gallant  service,  with  the  heartfelt  satisfaction  of  having  done  their 
duty,  with  the  praises  of  their  friends  and  the  admiration  of  the 
enemy  ;  and  with  Hatteras,  Roanoke,  Camden,  South  Mountain, 
Antietam,  Fredericksburg  and  Suffolk  inscribed  on  their  banners. 

Fare  you  well,  brave  and  faithful  comrades  !  The  best  wishes  of 
those  you  leave  follow  you,  and  will  unite  with  the  cheers  of  the 
thousands  who  will  greet  your  triumphant  march  through  your  native 
city  to  do  you  the  honor  you  have  so  richly  earned. 

By  command  of 

GEORGE  W.  GETTY,  Brigadier-General, 
CAPTAIN  GARDINER,  Asst.  Adjt. -General. 


43O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

This  order  was  very  gratifying  to  every 
member  of  the  regiment,  coming  as  it  did  from 
the  general  under  whose  watchful  eye  they  had 
served  for  several  months,  and  who  had  evi 
dently  learned  to  value  their  soldierly  qualities 
as  he  had  seen  them  exhibited  in  camp,  on  the 
march,  and  on  the  battlefield. 

One  thing  in  connection  with  this  last  day  of 
their  active  service  as  an  organization,  which 
had  a  tendency  to  dampen  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  men,  was  the  decision  of  the  government, 
that  all  the  recruits  who  had  enlisted  at  various 
times  subsequent  to  the  muster-in  of  the  regi 
ment  must  remain  behind  in  the  service  and 
serve  a  full  two  year  or  three  year  term  accord 
ing  to  the  terms  of  the  "  call  for  troops  "  under 
which  each  one  had  enlisted. 

Nearly,  if  not  quite,  all  these  recruits  had 
enlisted  under  the  belief  that  their  terms  \vould 
expire  with  that  of  the  regiment.  That  was 
also  the  general  belief  among  the  officers.  At 
the  time  of  their  enlistment  they  were  informed 
that  while  they  were  actually  being  sworn  in 
for  a  stated  term,  in  years,  yet  nevertheless 
every  effort  would  be  made  to  induce  the  war 
department  to  permit  them  to  be  mustered  out 
with  the  regiment  at  the  expiration  of  its  term 
of  service,  and  it  was  believed  that  these  efforts 
would  be  successful.  Colonel  Hawkins  left 


HOME  A  T  LAST.  43 1 

nothing  undone  in  his  efforts  to  have  this 
implied  agreement  carried  out,  but  without 
success.  Consequently  about  three  hundred 
men  were  left  behind  to  serve  out  their  respec 
tive  terms  in  some  other  organization. 

On  the  3d  of  May  the  regiment  left  Suffolk 
and  proceeded  to  Fortress  Monroe,  where  trans 
portation  by  sea  was  furnished,  and  on  the  5th, 
after  a  voyage  devoid  of  incident,  it  arrived  in 
New  York. 

One  of  the  New  York  papers  of  that  date 
published  the  following  notice  of  the  expected 
arrival  of  the  regiment: 

"  The  regiment  will  arrive  in  this  city  today.  Extensive  arrange 
ments  have  been  made  in  order  to  give  the  gallant  corps  an  enthu. 
siastic  reception.  Several  fire  companies,  both  of  New  York  and 
Brooklyn,  have  volunteered  to  turn  out  on  the  occasion.  The  Twelfth 
Regiment,  National  Guard,  will  also  parade  in  honor  of  the  returning 
heroes.  They  come  on  the  steamer  "  Kennebec,"  and  may  be  ex 
pected  to  land  about  9  o'clock,  A.M. 

"  A  meeting  of  the  wounded  and  friends  of  the  regiment  was  held  at 
25  Carmine  Street  yesterday  afternoon,  and  arrangements  were  made 
for  the  ex-members,  wounded,  and  friends,  to  turn  out  upon  the  occa 
sion.  The  Zouaves  will  be  commanded  by  Colonel  Hawkins." 

The  reception  was  a  very  cordial  and  gratify 
ing  one,  and  the  plaudits  on  the  line  of  march 
were  numerous  and  enthusiastic.  After  a  short 
parade,  not  short  enough  however  to  suit  the 
impatient  Zouaves,  whose  one  desire  was  to  be 
with  their  loved  ones  from  whom  they  had 
been  separated  so  long,  the  regiment  arrived  at 
the  Twelfth  Regiment  Armory,  where  the  arms 


432   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS, 

were  deposited  and  the  men  dismissed  for  the 
time  being. 

Nothing  now  remained  to  do  but  prepare  the 
rolls  for   muster-out.     These  were  soon  com 
pleted  and  on   May  20,  1863,  the  Ninth    New 
York  Volunteers  were  mustered  out  of  service 
and  ceased  to  exist  as  a  military  organization. 
The  whole  number  of  men  enlisted  in 
the  regiment  during  the  two  years 
of  service,  was        .         .         .         .  I4I3 

Mustered  out  at  expiration  of  term,   539 
Transferred  to  the  Third  New  York,    264    803 
Which  shows  an  apparent  loss  from  all 

causes  of  ...  610 

In  addition  to  this  apparent  loss  there  was  an 
additional  actual  loss  in  battle  of  155  men,  who 
recovering  from  their  wounds  returned  to  the 
regiment  and  were  again  "  present  for  duty," 
and  are  included  in  the  above  803  men  who 
were  either  mustered  out  with  it  or  trans 
ferred  to  serve  out  their  respective  unexpired 
terms  of  enlistment. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE  RECRUITS  LEFT  AT  SUFFOLK  —  LACK  OF  MILITARY 
CONTROL  — VOLUNTEERING  FOR  THE  FIGHT  — CAMP 
RUMORS  — PRIVATE  RECONNOITERING  —  THE  MAN 
OF  STRAW  — UNCERTAINTY  AND  ANXIETY  AMONG 
THE  MEN  —  TRANSFERRED  TO  THE  THIRD  NEW 
YORK  —  BOSSING  THE  REGIMENT  —  OFF  FOR  FIELD 
SERVICE  —  CAMPAIGNING  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  — 
ARMY  OF  THE  JAMES  —  ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC 
—  MEN  OF  THE  NINTH  DISTINGUISH  THEMSELVES - 
REGIMENT  DWINDLES  AWAY  —  CALL  FOR  SECOND 
BATTALION  —  A  NEW  NINTH  ORGANIZED  —  FORMA 
TION  OF  I78TH  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS  — ORDERED 
TO  VIRGINIA  — NEW  NINTH  RECRUITING  — THE  JULY 
RIOTS— JARDINE  AND  WHITE  WOUNDED— RESCUED— 
BATTALION  AT  FORT  HAMILTON  — SEVENTEENTH 
NEW  YORK  —  ORDERED  TO  THE  FRONT  —  PROVIS 
IONAL  BRIGADE  — SERVICE  OF  178x11  —  SERVICE  OF 
i7TH— MEN  WHO  SERVED  IN  OTHER  REGIMENTS. 

WHEN  the  Ninth  departed  for  New 
York  for  the  purpose  of  being  mus 
tered  out,  about  three  hundred  men — recruits 
— who  had  enlisted  in  the  regiment  at  various 
times  subsequent  to  its  muster  into  the  ser 
vice,  were  left  behind  at  Suffolk  to  serve  out 
their  respective  unexpired  terms  of  enlistment 


434  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

They  were  for  a  time  unattached  to  any 
regiment  or  command.  They  had  no  com 
missioned  officers  of  their  own.  They  were 
detachments  from  every  company  in  the  regi 
ment,  and  now  found  themselves  without  or 
ganization,  and  for  the  time  being  practically 
free  from  both  military  restraints  and  from  the 
performance  of  ordinary  military  duties.  They 
seemed  to  be  at  liberty  to  go  and  come  within 
camp  lines  at  their  own  will  and  pleasure. 

Each  of  them  had  enlisted  for  a  stated  period 
—two  or  three  years — according  to  the  "  call " 
under  which  they  respectively  entered  the  ser 
vice,  but  each  and  every  one  of  them,  as  well 
as  every  other  man  in  the  regiment,  both 
enlisted  and  commissioned,  had  firmly  believed 
that  they  would  only  be  required  to  serve  until 
the  term  of  the  regiment  expired.  When  it 
was  learned  that  they  w^ould  not  be  allowed  to 
go  home  with  the  regiment  they  were  griev 
ously  disappointed.  They  had  looked  forward 
with  pleasurable  anticipation  to  the  time  when 
they  would  march  up  Broadway  with  the 
regiment,  participate  with  it  in  whatever  recep 
tion  was  accorded  it,  share  in  its  honors  and 
claim  their  proportion  of  the  glory  it  had  won. 
These  hopes  were  now  all  dashed  to  the  ground 
and  the  men  felt  very  bitter  on  account  of  what 
they  believed  to  be  unjust  treatment.  Hope, 


VOLUNTEERING  FOR  THE  FIGHT.  435 

however,  "  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast," 
and  most  of  the  boys  still  cherished  a  faint 
hope  or  indulged  in  a  vague  expectation  that 
the  decision  which  separated  them  from  their 
regiment  might  yet  be  reconsidered  and  that 
some  unforeseen  turn  in  affairs  might  happen, 
whereby  they  might  still  be  mustered  out  with  it. 
This  made  them  ready  to  grasp  at  any  of  the 
multitude  of  rumors  and  camp  stories  which 
sprung  up — where  the  wish  was  father  to  the 
thought — regarding  the  intention  of  the  authori 
ties  concerning  them. 

On  the  3d  of  May,  which  was  the  day  after 
the  Ninth  departed  for  home,  a  reconnaissance 
was  ordered  to  ascertain  the  whereabouts  of 
the  enemy,  who  had  suddenly  become  less 
active  than  usual,  and  among  the  troops  as 
signed  to  the  duty  was  the  iO3d  New  York,  a 
regiment  which  had  been  long  brigaded  with 
the  Ninth.  A  goodly  number  of  the  retained 
men  voluntarily  joined  that  regiment  and  par 
ticipated  in  the  fight  which  the  movement 
brought  on.  Among  the  killed  in  the  engage 
ment  was  Colonel  Ringold,  the  commander  of 
the  regiment,  a  most  gallant  and  dashing 
officer,  and  one  in  whom  the  whole  brigade 
took  pride.  This  engagement  proved  to  be  the 
last  which  took  place  during  the  siege.  The 
fighting  for  the  present  in  that  vicinity  seemed 


436   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

at  an  end,  and  the  leisure  permitted  some 
body  to  start  and  spread  a  report  that  Colonel 
Ringold's  remains  were  to  be  sent  home,  and 
that  the  recruits  of  the  Ninth,  as  a  reward  for 
their  conduct  in  the  fight  in  which  he  was  killed, 
were  to  act  as  their  escort.  This  report  was 
eagerly  seized  upon  by  the  men  and  produced  a 
good  deal  of  excitement,  many  of  them  believing 
it  to  be  true.  Like  others  of  similar  import,  it 
proved  to  be  baseless.  Then  a  report  gained 
currency,  and  was  also  believed,  that  it  had 
been  decided  to  form  the  recruits  into  a  light 
battery  to  be  commanded  by  Captain  Morris, 
of  Company  K,  of  the  old  regiment.  There 
appears  to  have  been  some  little  foundation  for 
this  report  as  the  men  to  the  number  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty  were  marched  to  a  point 
between  Suffolk  and  Portsmouth,  where  they 
were  established  in  camp  and  a  preliminary 
organization  was  begun  under  somebody's 
orders.  There  were  no  commissioned  officers 
assigned  to  take  charge  of  affairs,  but  non 
commissioned  officers  were  detailed  to  act  in 
various  capacities  with  a  view  to  caring  for  the 
men.  Edward  K.  Whiteman,  of  Company  B, 
of  the  old  regiment,  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
commissary  department,  with  George  W. 
Rogers  acting  as  commissary  sergeant.  They 
both  performed  their  duties  well  and  for  the 


PRIVATE  RECONNO1TERING.  437 

few  days  the  camp  was  maintained  succeeded 
in  drawing  from  the  commissary,  and  in 
properly  issuing  the  full  ration  of  food  allowed 
by  the  regulations. 

This  battery  organization,  however,  was 
abandoned  in  a  few  days.  It  is  doubtful  if 
there  was  any  serious  intention  on  the  part  of 
the  authorities  to  complete  it. 

In  the  meantime,  and  before  the  battery 
camp  had  been  established,  sharpshooting 
along  the  lines  had  entirely  ceased  and  a  camp 
rumor  began  to  circulate  that  the  enemy  had 
evacuated  his  works  and  retired.  There 
seemed  to  be  nothing  improbable  about  this 
report  except  the  fact  that  the  lookout  was 
still  plainly  visible  in  the  rebel  observatory  or 
watch  tower,  and  seemed  to  be  attending 
strictly  to  business.  Many  a  shot  was  sent  in 
his  direction,  not  so  much  with  the  expectation 
of  hitting  him,  but  just  to  make  it  interesting 
for  him. 

Some  of  the  more  venturesome  spirits 
among  the  Zouaves  determined  to  find  out  for 
themselves  just  what  the  situation  was  in  their 
front  and  slipping  quietly  over  the  works, 
without  going  through  the  formality  of  asking 
for  orders,  started  on  a  reconnaissance  of  their 
own.  They  were  very  cautious  in  their  move 
ments,  as  the  rebel  lookout  was  still  on  duty 


438   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

in  the  tower,  and  they  did  not  wish  to  have 
him  direct  the  enemy's  fire  toward  them.  They 
soon  discovered  that  the  rebel  rifle-pits  were 
actually  abandoned,  and  they  pushed  on  for 
some  distance  beyond  them  without  finding  the 
enemy.  The  idea  then  occurred  to  some  of 
them,  and  was  quickly  acted  upon,  to  attempt 
to  turn  the  tables  on  the  man  in  the  observa 
tory  who  had  caused  them  so  much  trouble 
by  his  apparent  vigilance,  and  who  it  seemed  to 
them  had  remained  at  his  post  too  long  for 
his  own  good,  by  capturing  and  taking  him  into 
camp.  By  skillful  manoeuvering  they  suc 
ceeded  in  gaining  positions  which  enabled 
them  to  cut  off  his  retreat,  when  they  boldly 
advanced,  surrounded  the  tower,  and  de 
manded  his  unconditional  surrender,  when  lo ! 
the  vigilant  sentinel  proved  to  be  a  man  of 
straw.  An  old  suit  of  rebel  butternut  had  been 
stuffed  with  straw  and  leaves  and  the  Johnnies 
with  considerable  skill  had  so  fashioned  and 
placed  the  figure  that  the  deception  at  a  little 
distance  was  complete.  The  dummy  had  suc 
cessfully  engaged  the  attention  of  the  vol 
unteer  scouts  while  the  Rebs  were  quietly 
retiring,  no  doubt  laughing  in  their  sleeves  as 
they  pictured  to  themselves  the  disgust  and 
chagrin  of  the  Yankees  when  they  wrould  dis 
cover  the  kind  of  sentry  that  had  been  left  on 


TAKEN  TO  FORTRESS  MONROE.  439 

guard.  When  the  men  returned  to  the  fort 
and  reported  the  results  of  their  investigations 
they,  for  reasons  of  their  own,  failed  to  mention 
the  capture  of  the  dummy  sentinel. 

A  day  or  two  after  the  withdrawal  of  the 
rebel  troops,  word  was  passed  around  among 
the  men  of  the  Ninth  that  they  were  ordered 
to  assemble  at  a  certain  locality  in  Norfolk— 
twenty-seven  miles  distant — and  a  rumor  was 
circulated  at  the  same  time  to  the  effect  that  it 
was  for  the  purpose  of  acting  as  funeral  escort 
to  the  remains  of  Colonel  Ringold  on  their 
journey  north  for  interment.  The  men  re 
sponded  with  alacrity.  Those  who  still  re 
mained  about  Fort  Nansemond  and  also  the 
men  in  the  battery  camp  proceeded  at  once  to 
the  rendezvous.  Here  they  were  taken  in 
charge  by  the  provost  guard,  and  together  with 
a  number  who  had  followed  the  regiment  when 
it  started  on  the  homeward  journey,  and  who 
were  then  scattered  about  the  city,  were  es 
corted  on  board  a  canal  boat,  and  placed 
under  guard.  On  the  next  day  a  tug-boat 
towed  them  to  Fortress  Monroe,  and  they  were 
marched  from  the  wharf  to  the  sally-port  of 
the  fort,  through  a  double  line  of  soldiers, 
and  turned  over  to  the  commanding  officer. 
After  certain  necessary  preliminaries  had  been 
gone  through  with — taking  their  names  and 


44O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW   YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

military  histories,  which  would  be  verified  later 
by  their  descriptive  lists — they  were  assigned 
to  the  various  companies  of  the  Third  New 
York  Volunteers  then  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Alvord. 

This  body  of  men  was  also  the  remnant  of 
a  two  years'  regiment,  the  term  of  which  had 
expired  only  a  few  days  before,  and  was  com 
posed  not  only  of  recruits  whose  terms  of  en 
listment  had  not  expired,  but  also  of  a  consid 
erable  number  of  men  of  the  Third,  who  had 
re-enlisted  for  three  years.  The  regiment  had 
served  continuously  on  garrison  duty  in 
Fortress  Monroe  ever  since  its  first  arrival  in 
Virginia,  never  having  changed  station  or  camp 
or  made  a  march.  The  men  wore  the  regular 
United  States'  uniform,  with  all  the  brass 
attachments,  and  so  far  as  clothing  and  equip 
ments  could  make  them — even  to  the  band 
boxes  for  their  full-dress  hats — were  regulars. 
The  addition  of  the  men  of  the  Ninth  made 
a  good  sized  regiment,  of  which  Colonel  Alvord 
and  his  officers  were  justly  proud. 

The  records  of  the  Third  New  York,  on 
file  in  the  War  Department,  give  the  number 
of  men  received  by  transfer  from  the  Ninth 
New  York  as  264.  There  is  no  data  available 
whereby  the  number  of  men  dropped  from  the 
rolls  of  the  Ninth  by  transfer  to  the  Third  can 


TRANSFERRED  TO  THE  THIRD  N.   Y.  44 1 

be  ascertained.  These  numbers  should  agree, 
but  it  is  known  that  they  do  not.  Quite  a 
number  of  the  men  left  behind  by  the  Ninth 
were  never  officially  accounted  for. 

For  a  long  time  subsequent  to  the  consolida 
tion,  conditions  in  the  new  regiment  were  not 
as  pleasant  as  they  might  be.  The  264  men 
from  the  Ninth  were  veterans  who  had  been 
continuously  in  the  field  ever  since  they  joined 
their  regiment,  and  had  taken  part  in  severe 
battles  and  long  marches,  and  it  was  only  nat 
ural  that  they  should  consider  themselves,  in  all 
soldierly  qualities  which  came  as  the  result  of 
military  experience,  the  superiors  of  their  new 
comrades,  who  had  spent  their  whole  terms  of 
service  behind  the  parapets  of  a  fort  which  was 
not  even  in  the  enemy's  country.  They  soon 
perceived  that  they  were  held  in  some  awe  and 
not  a  little  respect  by  both  officers  and  men 
of  the  Third,  and  they  were  not  slow  to 
take  advantage  of  it.  They  objected  most 
strenuously  to  the  regulation  uniforms,  which 
they  were  ordered  to  draw  to  take  the  place 
of  the  Zouave  clothing  which  they  were  then 
wearing.  The  opposition  was  so  decided 
that  the  Colonel  and  officers  finally  submitted  to 
them  and  the  men  continued  to  wear  the  uniform 
of  their  old  regiment  until  it  was  worn  out. 
This  wearing  of  a  distinctive  uniform  served  to 


442    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

hold  them  closer  together  and  kept  them  in 
a  measure  separated  from  the  other  men  of 
the  regiment.  This,  and  the  knowledge  that 
the  officers  would  give  way  to  their  demands 
if  firmly  pressed,  was  bad  for  discipline,  and 
for  a  time,  or  until  nearly  the  whole  personnel 
of  both  field  and  line  officers  had  been  changed 
by  resignations  and  other  causes,  they  were  in 
clined  to  be  somewhat  riotous  and  insubor 
dinate.  This  gradually  wore  away,  however, 
as  the  old  officers  dropped  out  one  by  one  and 
their  places  were  filled  by  men  who  had  risen 
from  the  ranks  and  who  adopted  better  meth 
ods  of  government  and  discipline,  and  the  Third 
soon  developed  into  an  excellent  regiment. 

About  two  weeks  after  their  arrival  at  the 
fort  they  were  gratified  by  receiving  marching 
orders.  The  first  move  was  to  Portsmouth, 
Va.,  where  they  encamped  on  Paradise  Creek. 
From  there  they  were  sent  to  Folly  Island,  S. 
C,  where  they  arrived  in  the  early  part  of  June, 
and  were  assigned  to  Alvord's  Brigade,  Second 
Division,  i8th  Army  Corps. 

While  here  the  regiment  had  plenty  of  actual 
war  service,  taking  part  in  nearly  all  the  en 
gagements  up  to  and  including  the  capture  of 
Fort  Gregg;  the  men  so  conducting  themselves 
in  these  engagements  as  to  receive  the  com 
mendation  of  their  superiors. 


CAMPAIGNING  IN  VIRGINIA.  443 

In  March,  1864,  it  joined  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  at  Glouster  Point,  Va.,  and  later  was 
transferred  to  the  Army  of  the  James,  where  it 
saw  plenty  of  service  both  at  Bermuda  Hun 
dreds  and  at  the  front  of  Petersburg.  In  the 
fight  at  Drewry's  Bluff,  or  Newmarket  Road, 
it  participated  in  a  brilliant  charge,  capturing 
and  holding  the  enemy's  line  for  a  time,  but 
was  afterwards  outflanked  and  compelled  to 
retire.  Several  of  the  boys  of  the  Ninth  greatly 
distinguished  themselves  here,  notably  Ser 
geant  Todd  and  acting  Sergeant-Major  Avent. 
The  latter  rallied  the  men,  after  the  repulse 
above  noted,  and  there  being  no  commissioned 
officer  present  with  that  portion  of  the  regi 
ment,  which  had  become  separated  from  the 
rest  of  the  command,  established  a  line  in  the 
face  of  the  enemy  and  held  it  successfully  for 
several  hours  until  relieved  of  command  by 
the  arrival  of  a  commissioned  officer,  Lieuten 
ant  James  H.  Reeves. 

The  regiment  was  engaged  in  the  attack  on 
the  enemy's  intrenchments  on  the  north  side 
of  the  James,  under  General  "  Baldy  "  Smith  on 
the  day  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  formed  the 
junction  with  the  Army  of  the  James.  The 
movement  as  a  whole  was  not  a  success,  if  it 
had  been  the  siege  of  Petersburg  would  have 
been  unnecessary,  but  the  division  to  which 


444    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

the  regiment  belonged,  after  being  twice  re 
pulsed  in  the  attempt,  succeeded  in  capturing 
that  part  of  the  line  in  their  immediate  front, 
turning  the  enemy's  guns  upon  them  and  fired 
their  own  shot  and  shell  at  the  retreating 
rebels. 

The  regiment  joined  the  besieging  army  in 
the  works  before  Petersburg,  and  during  its 
stay  there  was  repeatedly  engaged.  It  took 
part  in  the  mine  fiasco  and  was  part  of  the 
command  which  held  its  ground  for  so  many 
hours  in  the  crater. 

While  stationed  at  Chapin's  farm  a  number 
of  vacancies  among  the  line  officers  of  the  regi 
ment  were  filled  by  promotion  from  the  rank 
and  file,  five  of  the  positions  falling  to  men 
who  had  been  transferred  from  the  Ninth,  viz.: 
George  W.  Rogers,  John  Knowles,  James 
Rockwell,  George  E.  Avent  and  E.  K.  Whiteman. 

When  the  Fort  Fisher  expedition  was  organ 
ized  the  Third  was  ordered  to  join  it.  The 
regiment  did  its  full  share  of  fighting,  and 
suffered  its  proportionate  loss  in  the  memorable 
attack  and  capture  of  that  work.  Several  of 
the  men  of  the  old  regiment  greatly  distin 
guished  themselves  in  the  desperate  hand-to- 
hand  conflict  which  preceded  the  capture  of  the 
fort.  Edward  K.  Whiteman,  one  of  the  Zou 
aves,  who  although  a  commissioned  officer, 


DISTINGUISHED  GALLANTRY.  445 

had  not  been  mustered  and  was  still  doing 
duty  as  a  sergeant,  led  a  detachment  of  the 
regiment  over  the  parapet  in  the  most  gallant 
manner,  driving  the  defenders  successively,  step 
by  step,  from  traverse  to  traverse,  encouraging 
his  men  by  voice  and  example  and  winning  the 
admiration  of  all  who  saw  him,  until  he  fell 
dead,  literally  in  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  on  the 
eighth  mound  which  his  party  had  won  by 
their  gallant  and  determined  efforts.  Thus  fell 
a  heroic  soldier,  giving  "  the  last  full  measure 
of  devotion"  to  his  country,  and  reflecting 
honor  on  his  regiment  and  on  the  cause  in 
which  he  served. 

This  was  the  last  engagement  in  which  the 
regiment  participated.  It  had  become  reduced 
to  a  mere  handful  in  numbers,  not  so  much 
from  the  casualties  of  battle,  although  its  losses 
had  been  large,  as  from  the  rapid  discharge  of 
the  men,  some  of  whose  terms  of  enlistment 
began  to  expire  almost  as  soon  as  the  con 
solidation  had  been  effected.  The  first  man 
from  the  Ninth  to  be  discharged  from  the  Third 
was  Samuel  H.  Marsh,  who  had  enlisted  for 
two  years,  just  sixteen  days  after  the  muster-in 
of  the  old  regiment.  From  that  time  onward 
it  dwindled  away  very  rapidly,  some  of  the 
men  being  discharged  almost  daily.  This 
paucity  of  numbers  prevented  the  muster-in  of 


446    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

a  number  of  officers  who  had  been  promoted 
for  gallant  and  meritorious  services  or  for 
marked  soldierly  ability.  From  among  the 
recruits  of  the  Ninth  sixteen  men  were  promoted 
to  be  commissioned  officers,  and  thirty-two 
to  non-commissioned  positions,  a  total  of  forty- 
eight  promotions  out  of  the  two  hundred  and 
sixty-four  transferred,  or  a  fraction  over  eighteen 
per  cent. 

The  regiment  was  finally  mustered  out  of 
service  at  Raleigh,  N.  C,  August  26,  1865. 

In  the  autumn  of  1862,  at  the  time  when  a 
considerable  number  of  the  men  of  the  Ninth, 
who  had  been  wounded  at  Antietam  were  con 
valescent  and  preparing  to  return  to  the  front, 
a  call  was  published  in  the  New  York  news 
papers,  notifying  the  public  generally,  that  on 
a  specified  day  a  meeting  would  be  held  at 
the  office  of  Mr.  Dexter  A.  Hawkins,  for  the 
purpose  of  organizing  and  sending  to  the  front 
a  regiment  to  be  designated  "  Second  Battalion 
Ninth  New  York  Volunteers."  Mr.  Hawkins 
was  a  relative  of  Col.  Rush  C.  Hawkins,  of  the 
Ninth,  and  one  of  the  many  'patriotic  citizens 
of  the  Metropolis  who  were  contributing  freely 
of  their  time  and  means  in  an  effort  to  render 
assistance  to  the  Government  in  its  desperate 
struggle  against  armed  treason. 

Up  to  that  time  the  Union  forces  had  gained 


THE  SECOND  BATTALION.  447 

few  victories  and  had  suffered  many  reverses, 
and  as  a  consequence  recruiting  at  the  North 
had  almost  come  to  a  standstill.  Mr.  Hawkins 
and  the  gentlemen  associated  with  him  desired 
to  organize  a  regiment  which  would  be  officered 
entirely  by  men  who  had  served  at  the  front 
and  had  gained  military  knowledge  from  actual 
experience  on  the  march,  in  the  bivouac,  and  on 
the  battlefield,  and  thereby  inspire  confidence 
in  such  patriotic  citizens  as  might  desire  to 
serve  their  country  as  soldiers,  but  who  might 
hesitate  to  enlist,  in  the  fear  that  they  might  be 
obliged  to  serve  under  officers  who  had  no 
more  experience  in  war  than  they  themselves, 
and  would  in  all  probability  be  sacrificed  on  the 
altar  of  ignorance  and  inexperience. 

The  meeting  was  held  in  pursuance  to  the 
call,  several  of  the  Antietam  wounded  of  the 
Ninth  attending,  and  a  preliminary  or  provi 
sional  organization  formed,  and  headquarters 
for  the  same  established  at  the  corner  of 
Broome  and  Mercer  Streets,  New  York  City. 
The  field  officers  designated  for  the  proposed 
regiment  were  as  follows:  Colonel,  Julius 
W.  Adams,  who  was  a  West  Point  graduate ; 
Lieutenant-Colonel,  Edward  Jardine,  then 
Major  of  the  old  regiment  and  serving  with 
it  at  the  front;  Major,  Thomas  W.  Conway, 
the  then  Chaplain  of  the  Ninth,  who  was  at  the 


448   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

time  in  New  York  on  leave  of  absence.  The 
positions  of  line  officers  were  generally  left  open, 
to  be  filled  later  as  companies  were  organized, 
except  the  few  who  were  designated  for  the 
companies  which  were  then  started,  and  these 
were  selected  both  from  the  old  regiment  and 
from  other  sources.  Charles  Curie,  of  Company 
C  of  the  Ninth,  one  of  the  Antietam  wounded, 
became  first  lieutenant  of  one  of  the  first  com 
panies  started.  He  afterward  was  adjutant  of 
the  new  regiment.  He  at  once  established 
headquarters  and  began  recruiting  and  pro 
ceeded  with  the  organization  of  his  company. 
Recruiting  just  then  was  slow  work.  There 
were  scores  of  new  regiments  being  organized, 
the  greater  number  of  them,  however,  remain 
ing  skeleton  organizations  for  months. 

Before  the  new  regiment  had  secured  re 
cruits  enough  to  entitle  it  to  "  muster-in  "  to 
the  service,  the  term  of  the  old  regiment  had 
expired  and  the  first  excitement  attending  its 
home-coming  had  hardly  passed  away  before  a 
new  Ninth  New  York  was  organized,  which 
was  to  be  officered  exclusively  by  men  of  the 
old  regiment.  The  field  and  staff  of  the  new 
organization  as  first  decided  on  were  Colonel 
Edward  Jardine;  Lieutenant-Colonel  William 
G.  Barnett;  Major  James  R.  Whiting,  and 
Adjutant  G.  A.  C.  Barnett. 


CONSOLIDATIONS  AND  CHANGES.  449 

There  were  some  changes  in  the  personnel 
made  subsequently,  due  to  casualties  and  con 
solidation  with  other  regiments.  A  part  of  the 
Second  Battalion  was  consolidated  with  the 
new  Ninth,  while  the  remainder,  about  two 
companies,  were  combined  with  other  skeleton 
regiments  and  consolidated  into  the  iy8th 
New  York  Volunteers. 

The  personnel  of  the  Second  Battalion  was 
changed  considerably  when  the  Ninth  New 
York  was  reorganized,  and  further  changes 
followed  the  various  consolidations,  as  above, 
until  finally  all  the  field  positions  were  filled  by 
men  who  had  not  been  members  of  the  old  regi 
ment.  The  consolidation  of  part  of  the  organi 
zation  with  the  new  Ninth  deprived  it  of 
several  line  officers  also,  who  wrere  former 
Zouaves.  Among  those  who  remained  and 
cast  their  lot  with  the  regiment,  which  became 
the  iy8th  New  York,  were  Harry  Wright,  who- 
became  a  lieutenant;  Charles  Curie,  who 
attained  the  rank  of  captain  before  his  final 
muster-out;  John  B.  Gandolfo,  who  eventually 
became  colonel  of  the  regiment,  and  John  B. 
Pannes,  who  was  promoted  from  the  iyth  New 
York  to  a  captaincy  in  the  iy8th.  In  addition 
to  the  above  mentioned  commissioned  officers,, 
there  was  a  goodly  number  of  ex-Zouaves 
among  the  rank  and  file  of  the  new  regiment. 


450   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

About  the  middle  of  June,  1863,  the  first  five 
companies  of  the  regiment  proceeded  to  Vir 
ginia,  where  for  a  time  they  formed  part  of  the 
defenses  at  Washington.  Later  they  were  on 
guard  duty  in  and  about  that  city,  and  while 
there  were  joined  by  the  remaining  companies 
and  the  regiment  completed. 

Meantime  the  reorganized  Ninth,  which  while 
recruiting  had  been  stationed  at  Sprague  Bar 
racks,  Staten  Island,  was  slowly  adding  to  its 
numbers.  When  the  "July  riots"  of  1863 
broke  out  Colonel  Jardine  and  the  partly  organ 
ized  regiment  at  once  marched  against  the 
mob,  which  was  in  almost  undisputed  control 
in  several  different  sections  of  the  city,  and  in 
one  of  the  fights  which  followed  Jardine  was 
dangerously  wounded.  This  proved  to  be  an 
injury  of  such  [a  nature  as  to  disable  him  from 
further  service  in  the  field  and  to  eventually 
cause  his  death. 

In  this  fight  the  troops  were  at  first  over 
whelmed  by  the  mob  which  was  well  armed 
with  carbines  from  a  sacked  gun  factory,  and 
were  obliged  to  fall  back  leaving  the  Colonel, 
who  had  already  been  wounded  and  was  unable 
to  help  himself,  behind.  Assistant-Surgeon 
White  of  the  old  regiment,  remained  with  him, 
and  both  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  mob. 
White,  after  receiving  a  blow  from  the  butt  of 


RESCUE  OFJARDINE  AND   WHITE.  451 

a  carbine,  which  laid  open  his  scalp  and  in 
flicted  a  serious  wound,  was  hurried  away  by  a 
portion  of  the  mob  and  preparations  began  to 
hang  him  to  a  lamp  post.  Jardine,  in  the  mean 
time,  with  his  extraordinary  tact  and  address, 
which  never  deserted  him  under  any  circum 
stances,  was  parleying  with  the  others  in  an 
almost  hopeless  attempt  to  gain  time,  when 
they  were  both  almost  miraculously  rescued 
by  the  timely  arrival  of  reinforcements. 

While  Captain  Webster  and  his  regulars,  of 
which  the  reinforcements  consisted,  with  diffi 
culty  held  the  mob  at  bay  in  the  street,  Jardine 
and  White  were  assisted  out  of  the  melee  and 
taken  to  a  place  of  safety. 

On  the  29th  day  of  August,  1863,  two  full 
companies  of  the  Ninth  were  mustered  into  the 
United  States  service,  and  on  September  2d, 
under  command  of  Captain  James  B.  Horner— 
who  returned  at  the  close  of  the  war  major  of 
the  regiment — were  ordered  to  Fort  Hamilton, 
New  York  Harbor,  to  report  to  Colonel  Han 
nibal  Day,  U.  S.  A.,  commanding  the  post, 
where  they  did  duty  with  the  regular  garrison 
until  October  i6th,  when  they  returned  to 
Sprague  Barracks.  The  regiment  being  still 
incomplete  it  was  here  consolidated  with  other 
organizations  and  became  the  iyth  New  York 
Veteran  Volunteers. 


452   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

This  consolidation  had  the  effect  of  relegating 
Jardine  to  the  position  of  lieutenant-colonel, 
and  leaving  Barnett  out  altogether,  the  posi 
tions  of  colonel  and  major  falling  to  the  share 
of  the  original  iyth,  that  organization  having 
brought  more  men  into  the  regiment  than  any 
of  the  others,  and  it  being  customary  under  such 
circumstances  to  apportion  the  officers  pro  rata. 

Barnett  afterward  accepted  a  position  in  the 
regiment  and  became  the  junior  captain. 

Jardine,  owing  to  his  wound,  never  joined  the 
regiment,  and  resigned  his  commission  May 
loth,  1864. 

The  Zouave  uniform  of  the  old  regiment, 
which  had  been  adopted  by  the  new  Ninth  and 
supplied  by  the  State  to  the  regiment,  was  so 
much  admired  by  the  officers  of  the  lyth,  that 
it  was  adopted  by  them  as  the  regimental  uni 
form.  Many  of  the  characteristics  of  the  old 
regiment,  including  their  style  of  drill,  was 
also  followed  by  the  new  regiment.  At  the 
grand  review  in  Washington  at  the  close  of 
the  war  the  appearance  of  the  lyth,  in  style, 
uniform  and  marching,  bore  such  a  similarity 
to  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves  that  it  was  com 
mented  upon  by  many  of  the  spectators  who 
had  been  familiar  with  the  appearance  of  the 
latter  regiment. 

Shortly  after  the   consolidation  was  effected 


MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  i78th  NEW  YORK.  453 

the  regiment  was  ordered  to  the  front  and  near 
Washington,  D.  C,  early  in  the  autumn  of 
1863,  became  part  of  a  provisional  brigade, 
which  was  composed  of  the  lySth  New  York 
Veteran  Volunteers,  iyth  New  York  Veteran 
Volunteers,  and  the  34th  and  35th  New  Jersey 
Volunteers.  They  were  ordered  to  report  to 
General  Sherman,  who  was  then  on  the  march 
from  Memphis  to  join  Grant  at  Chattanooga, 
and  whom  they  expected  to  find  at  or  near 
Eastport,  Miss.  Sherman  had  already  passed 
when  the  brigade  arrived  at  Lthat  point,  and 
after  a  wait  of  several  days  for  orders  it  was 
sent  to  join  Gen.  A.  J.  Smith,  at  Columbus,  Ky. 
The  lySth  was  detached  from  the  provisional 
brigade  here  and  was  sent  to  garrison  Fort 
Pillow.  From  there  it  joined  Sherman  at 
Vicksburg,  becoming  part  of  A.  J.  Smith's 
division,  and  participated  in  the  Meridian  raid. 
It  was  then,  with  A.  J.  Smith's  and  Mower's 
divisions  of  the  i6th  Army  Corps,  sent  to 
the  Red  River  country  to  assist  Banks  out  of 
his  trouble,  and  participating  in  all  the  opera 
tions  of  that  campaign  rendered  such  efficient 
and  valuable  assistance  that  Banks'  army  was 
saved  from  overwhelming  disaster.  It  was 
then  transferred  to  Arkansas  and  joined  in  the 
pursuit  of  Marmduke,  thence  to  Mississippi 
and  Tennessee  in  the  Tupelo  campaign  and 


454   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS, 

the  marchings  and  countermarchings,  battles 
and  skirmishes  in  the  pursuit  of  that  most 
able  cavalry  commander,  Forest.  Always  on 
the  move  with  little  time  for  either  rest  or 
sleep.  From  there  was  hurried  to  Missouri 
to  assist  in  heading  off  the  Confederate  General 
Price's  movement  against  St.  Louis.  Partici 
pated  in  the  affair  at  Franklin,  where  Price  was 
defeated  and  forced  to  retreated.  Followed 
close  upon  his  heels  across  the  State  of  Mis 
souri  to  the  Kansas  line,  where  he  was  over 
taken  and  again  defeated  and  his  army  scat 
tered.  From  here  the  regiment  returned  to 
Pleasant  Hill,  where  it  arrived  October  3ist 
Between  October  ist,  the  date  of  the  fight  at 
Franklin,  until  the  arrival  of  the  command  at 
Pleasant  Hill,  the  regiment  had  marched  four 
hundred  miles. 

In  the  early  days  of  December  the  command, 
which  by  that  time  by  reason  of  their  long 
marches  and  unkempt  appearance,  had  become 
known  in  the  army  as  "  Smith's  Guerillas," 
joined  Thomas  at  Nashville  and  took  part  in 
that  battle.  In  response  to  instructions  from 
General  Thomas  at  that  time,  directing  brigade 
commanders  to  report  the  conduct  of  com 
missioned  officers  during  the  battles  before 
Nashville.  Colonel  E.  H.  Wolfe,  command 
ing  the  brigade  to  which  the  iy8th  was 
attached,  reported : 


THE  SE  VENTEENTH  NE  W  YORK.  455 

*  *  *  Without  doing  injustice,  however,  to  other  officers  I  would 
respectfully  recommend  for  promotion  Captain  John  B.  Gandolfo, 
commanding  the  i-jSth  New  York  Volunteers.  This  officer  I  have 
before  recommended  for  promotion,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  dis 
charged  his  duties  during  the  engagement  of  the  i6th,  has  only  strength 
ened  my  former  opinion  as  to  his  ability  as  an  officer,  and  I  again  urge 
his  advancement  in  the  service.  *  *  * 

After  the  destruction  of  Hood's  army  the 
command  was  ordered  to  report  to  General 
Canby,  and  was  a  part  of  his  forces  in  the 
movement  against  and  capture  of  Mobile, 
which  event  occurred  on  April  Qth,  1865. 

Having  practically  reached  the  end  of  the 
war  the  regiment  saw  no  more  active  service 
and  in  due  course  was  regularly  mustered  out. 

The  "  Seventeenth "  remained  for  a  time 
part  of  the  provisional  brigade  above  referred 
to,  and  after  the  departure  of  the  iy8th  was 
engaged  in  active  duty,  marching  and  counter 
marching,  to  pursue  or  intercept  the  enemy 
over  a  wide  extent  of  territory.  It  participated 
in  the  movement  which  is  designated  by  those 
who  took  part  in  it  as  the  "Meridian  raid," 
and  in  the  other  operations  of  the  army,  being 
almost  continuously  on  the  move  until  the 
winter  was  well  advanced  and  the  ground 
covered  with  snow.  The  regiment  was  after 
ward  sent  to  Decater,  Ala.,  and  during  the 
time  the  command  to  which  it  was  attached 
was  operating  in  that  vicinity  became,  by 
reason  of  its  various  marches  and  movements, 


456    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

well  acquainted  with  a  large  portion  of  north 
ern  Alabama  and  northeastern  Mississippi. 

It  finally  became  part  of  Sherman's  army 
participating  in  all  its  movements,  including 
the  battle  of  Jonesboro,  in  which  in  a  brillant 
charge  on  the  enemy's  works  it  lost  its  Colonel, 
Wm.  T.  C.  Grower,  and  a  hundred  men.  The 
heroism  of  Colonel  Grower  and  the  gallantry 
of  the  regiment  was  so  conspicuously  displayed 
on  that  occasion  that  it  attracted  the  notice  of 
General  Thomas,  who  afterward,  at  the  grand 
review  at  Washington,  took  pains  to  publicly 
thank  it  for  the  gallantry  shown  on  that  occa 
sion. 

It  was  prominently  active  in  the  Atlanta 
campaign  and  in  the  memorable  siege  which 
terminated  that  brilliant  series  of  strategic 
movements  and  successfully  fought  battles 
which  followed  each  other  so  rapidly  during 
that  most  remarkable  chapter  of  the  war. 

It  was  part  of  the  army  of  Sherman,  when 
that  master  in  strategy  cut  losse  from  his  base 
and  started  on  the  famous  "  March  to  the  sea," 
participated  in  all  the  hardships  of  that  army 
and  shared  all  its  glories.  It  was  actively 
engaged  in  many  of  the  battles  which  were 
fought  during  the  progress  of  that  great  move 
ment  from  Tennessee  to  North  Carolina,  and 
participated  and  suffered  severe  losses  in  the 


CAREER  OF  CAPT.  BARNETT.  4S7 

very  last  one  fought,  namely,  Bentonville,  N. 
C,  April  igth,  1865.  Three  days  prior  to  that 
date,  at  Averyboro,  N.  C.,  the  regiment  sus 
tained  considerable  loss,  among  the  dead  being 
Captain  William  G.  Barnett,  who  was  killed 
while  faithfully  performing  his  duty  at  the  head 
of  his  company.  He  was  one  of  the  old 
"  Ninth "  and  his  military  career  was  in  one 
feature  at  least  a  decidedly  singular  one.  At 
the  very  outbreak  of  the  war  he  entered  the 
service  as  a  captain  in  the  "  Ninth,"  and  took 
part  as  such  in  the  first  battle  of  the  Rebellion, 
viz.:  Big  Bethel,  June  loth,  1861.  He  was 
killed  while  still  a  captain  in  one  of  the  last 
battles  fought,  having  been  in  the  field  in 
active  service  almost  continuously  during  the 
four  years  intervening. 

The  following  obituary  notice,  which  is  from 
the  pen  of  Dr.  J.  P.  P.  White,  assistant  surgeon 
of  the  old  "  Ninth,"  and  which  was  published 
at  the  time  of  Captain  Barnett's  death,  will  not 
be  out  of  place  here: 

AVERYBORO,    N.  C.,  April  19,  1865. 

*  *  *  In  the  list  of  officers  killed  at  the  battle  of  Averyboro,  N.  C., 
April  16,  1865,  occurs  the  name  of  Captain  William  G.  Barnett,  of  the 
iyth  New  York  Volunteers. 

He  originally  entered  service  in  April,  1861, as  captain  of  "B"  Company, 
gth  New  York  Volunteers,  "  Hawkins'  Zouaves,"  serving  through  all 
the  trying  and  glorious  campaigns  of  that  organization  with  great 
distinction,  and  contributing  perhaps  more  than  any  other  officer  of  the 
line  to  the  perfection  of  drill,  which  so  distinguished  it,  as  well  as  to 
the  efficiency  which  was  so  nobly  displayed  on  many  a  hotly  contested 
field. 


458    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Wounded  early  in  the  battle  of  Antietam  he  refused  to  leave  his 
command  which  sustained  the  first  shock  of  the  furious  flank  attacks 
of  the  enemy  late  in  the  afternoon  of  that  eventful  day.  His  term  of 
service  having  expired,  he,  with  Colonel  Jardine,  attempted  to  re 
organize  the  gth  Regiment,  holding  the  position  of  lieutenant-colonel. 
During  the  period  allotted  for  that  effort  a  severe  wound  received  by 
Colonel  Jardine  in  one  of  the  conflicts  with  the  rioters  of  1863,  in  which 
Captain  Barnett  participated  with  his  usual  gallantry,  frustrated  their 
plans  for  the  future,  and  on  the  consolidation  with  the  lyth,  he  accepted 
with  characteristic  modesty  the  position  of  captain  in  the  latter,  shrink 
ing  from  no  personal  sacrifice  in  his  efforts  to  aid  the  cause  for  which 
he  gave  up  his  life. 

Peculiar  considerations  and  influences,  better  understood  in  his  regi 
ment  than  elsewhere,  prevented  his  promotion  to  a  rank  commensurate 
with  his  abilities,  and  his  name  adds  another  to  the  long  list  of 
heroes,  forgotten  while  living,  but  honored  in  their  graves.  Lulled  to 
sleep  by  the  thunder  of  victorious  guns,  the  last  sad  salute,  the  rifle 
shots  of  his  gallant  men,  he  is  lying  on  a  well-fought  field,  the  long 
moss  of  Carolina  forests  "dewed  with  nature's  tear-drops,"  waving 
gently  over  his  silent  resting  place.  We  leave  him  to  future  and 
coming  generations,  who  shall,  with  reverent  feet,  hasten  to  honor  the 
martyr  who  gave  his  life  to  regenerate  and  purify  the  country. 

As  man  may  he  fought  his  fight,  proved  his  truth  by  his  endeavor ; 
Let  him  sleep  in  solemn  night,  sleep  forever  and  forever. 
Leave  him  to  God's  watchful  eye,  trust  him  to  the  hand  that  made  him, 
Mortal  love  weeps  idly  by,  God  alone  has  power  to  aid  him. 

The  war  was  now  practically  over,  and  after 
taking  part  in  the  grand  review  at  Washing 
ton,  the  i  yth,  together  with  the  other  gallant 
regiments  of  which  the  armies  were  composed, 
were  mustered  out,  and  the  individual  members 
of  all  of  them  were  soon  absorbed  in  the  civil 
body,  and  became  again  the  ordinary  unpre 
tending  citizens  of  the  Great  Republic. 

These  brief  sketches  of  the  regiments  in 
which  so  many  men  of  the  "  Ninth"  completed 
their  military  careers,  is  simply  for  the  purpose 
of  continuing  the  history  of  the  old  regiment 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  NINTH.  4S9 

under  its  other  designations.  At  the  time  of 
the  muster-out  of  the  Ninth — a  two  year  regi 
ment — the  war  was  scarcely  half  over.  A  large 
majority  of  the  men  who  had  survived  the 
"  Accidents  of  field  and  flood,"  at  once  re-en 
tered  the  service.  Two  hundred  and  sixty-four 
men  whose  terms  of  enlistment  had  not  ex 
pired  remained  in  the  field  as  the  3d  New 
York.  As  soon  as  the  Ninth  had  been  mus 
tered  out,  numbers  of  the  discharged  men  at 
once  re-enlisted  in  the  Second  Battalion,  and 
still  greater  numbers  in  the  reorganized  Ninth, 
when  that  regiment  was  started.  In  the  field 
these  men  exerted  a  powerful  influence  for 
good  on  their  respective  organizations.  They, 
both  commissioned  and  enlisted,  set  up  their 
old  regiment  as  their  standard  of  excellence 
and  strove  to  bring  their  respective  regiments 
up  to  that  standard  and  to  keep  them  there. 
The  esprit  de  corps  of  the  Ninth  was  always 
present  and  nearly  always  in  the  ascendancy, 
and  to  it  was  largely  due  the  honorable  records 
these  regiments  made  in  the  service. 

In  addition  to  those  who  clung  together  in 
groups  and  so  enlisted  in  their  respective  regi 
ments,  a  considerable  number  entered  the  ser 
vice  separately.  Some  of  these  had  strong 
preferences  for  other  arms  of  the  service  than 
infantry,  while  others  scattered  to  their  homes 


46O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

in  more  or  less  distant  localities,  in  New  York 
and  other  States,  and  entered  regiments  which 
were  recruiting  in  those  localities. 

It  is  neither  desirous,  nor  would  it  be  prac 
ticable  to  give  the  names  of  any  considerable 
proportion  of  such  men  as  thus  enlisted  singly, 
but  as  a  matter  of  corroboration  to  the  above 
the  names  of  the  following  members  of  the 
Ninth  who  continued  ^their  service  as  commis 
sioned  officers  in  other  regiments  than  those 
mentioned  in  this  history  are  here  given. 

First  Sergeant  D.  J.  Green,  of  Company  F, 
was  commissioned  in  one  of  the  North  Caro 
lina  regiments  recruited  at  Plymouth,  and 
served  with  honor  and  distinction  till  the  end 
of  the  war;  Latham  A.  Fish,  of  Company  C, 
served  his  second  term  as  a  captain  in  the 
1 74th  New  York  Volunteers;  Lieut.  James 
H.  Fleming,  of  Company  I,  entered  the  cav 
alry  after  serving  his  full  term  in  the  Ninth, 
and  died  heroically  at  Falls  Church,  Va.,  while 
in  command  of  his  company;  Serg.-Maj.  Au 
gustus  Dusenbury  entered  the  35th  New  Jersey 
Volunteers,  and  finished  his  second  enlistment 
a  captain ;  John  S.  Harrison,  lieutenant  in 
Company  D,  joined  an  Iowa  regiment  and 
became  captain ;  Lieut.  George  W.  Debevoise, 
of  Company  A,  after  being  discharged  for  dis 
ability,  the  result  of  wound,  was  commissioned 


SUBSEQUENT  SER  VICES  OF  EX-ZOUA  VES.         46 1 

in  the  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  and  served  until 
the  end  of  the  war,  leaving  the  service  a  major ; 
Emil  Boese,  after  being  discharged  for  disabil 
ity  by  reason  of  wound  received  in  battle, 
joined  a  New  York  cavalry  regiment  and 
became  a  commissioned  officer;  Charles  F. 
Roe,  after  his  muster  out,  entered  the  regu 
lar  army,  and  was  promoted  through  the 
various  grades  to  commissioned  officer;  Wil 
liam  Paulding,  of  Company  H,  served  his 
time  with  his  regiment,  then  joined  the  artil 
lery,  and  before  being  discharged  for  disabil 
ity  from  wounds  in  action,  reached  the  rank 
of  major;  William  S.  Hudson,  of  Company  C, 
was  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy  in  the  49th 
New  York  Volunteers,  and  became  a  captain; 
Matthew  J.  Graham,  who  lost  a  leg  at  Antie- 
tam  and  was  mustered  out  with  the  regiment, 
was  commissioned  in  the  Veteran  Reserve 
Corps,  and  served  till  the  close  of  the  war; 
Captain  A.  S.  Graham,  a  brother  of  the  forego 
ing,  saw  the  end  of  the  Rebellion  while  serving 
as  a  commissioned  officer  in  the  department 
of  the  gulf;  Edwin  Dewes,  who  was  mustered 
into  the  Ninth  as  Sergeant  of  Company  B,  and 
discharged  with  the  regiment  as  lieutenant, 
entered  a  Massachusetts  regiment  and  before 
the  end  of  the  war  reached  the  rank  of 
major;  Louis  Fucot,  a  private  of  Company  F, 


462    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

became  a  commissioned  officer  of  United 
States  Volunteers,  and  served  as  a  staff  officer 
in  the  department  of  the  gulf,  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  war. 

This  incomplete  list,  which  does  not  include 
the  names  of  any  from  among  the  scores  of 
ex-Zouaves  who  entered  various  regiments  as 
enlisted  men,  will  serve  to  show  the  spirit 
which  animated  a  majority  of  the  men  of  the 
regiment.  These  men  of  the  Ninth  had  re 
sponded  to  the  President's  first  call  for  troops, 
at  a  time  when  no  other  inducements  were 
offered  to  volunteers  than  the  knowledge  that 
the  life  of  the  nation  was  in  danger,  and  a 
majority  of  them  remained  at  their  posts  until 
the  last  armed  enemy  had  thrown  down  his 
weapon  and  surrendered. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  THIRD  GEORGIA— VARIOUS  MEET 
INGS  ON  THE  BATTLE  FIELD —  SEEKING  OLD  FOES 
AFTER  THE  WAR— THE  NINTH  VISITS  THE  THIRD- 
INCIDENTS  OF  THE  VISIT  TO  GEORGIA— SPEECHES 
—RECEPTION  OF  THE  THIRD  GEORGIA  BY  THE 
ZOUAVES— HOW  THEY  WERE  TREATED  BY  THEIR 
OLD-TIME  FOES  —  BANQUETS  —  SIGHTSEEING  —EX 
CURSIONS— DEPARTURE  OF  THE  GEORGIANS. 

THE  fortune  of  war,  or  the  accidents  of 
service,  brought  the  Third  Georgia  Vol 
unteers  and  the  Ninth  New  York  into  contact 
on  several  occasions  during  their  respective 
terms  of  enlistment.  At  Hatteras  in  1861, 
while  the  Zouaves  were  occupying  that  breezy 
watering  place,  the  Third  Georgia  was  for  a 
time  acting  as  a  corps  of  observation  for  their 
side,  being  encamped  at  a  point  about  twenty- 
five  miles  above  the  inlet.  The  regiment  be 
came  known  to  the  men  of  the  Ninth  in  some 
unexplainable  way,  even  to  the  extent  of  their 
being  familiar  with  the  names  of  some  of  its 
officers.  To  illustrate :  Sergeant  Graham  of 
Company  UA,"  of  the  Ninth,  was  drilling  an 
"  awkward  squad  "  one  day  among  the  sand- 


464  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK    VOLUNTEERS. 

hills  on  the  beach,  when  the  commanding 
officer,  General  Williams,  appeared  on  the 
scene.  He  at  once  mounted  his  hobby — ''rifles 
and  rifle  practice'' — and  proceeded  to  give  them 
all  a  lecture  on  the  subject  and  on  the  import 
ance  of  accuracy  in  the  fire  of  infantry  in  battle, 
etc.,  etc.,  and  to  make  his  meaning  clear  and 
to  illustrate  the  difference  between  what  was 
and  what  should  be,  said,  addressing  the  ser 
geant,  "  Suppose  Colonel  Wright  (The  colonel 
of  the  Third  Georgia)  should  come  down  here 
tomorrow  and  attack  us,  and  I  should  take 
your  regiment  out  to  oppose  him,  and  you 
should  expend  forty  thousand  cartridges- 
empty  your  boxes — what  would  be  the  result  ? 
Probably  forty  men  killed  and  a  hundred  and 
fifty  wounded.  Why  d — m  'em,  we  should 
have  annihilated  them  at  the  first  fire."  This 
serves  to  show  how  familiar  the  General  was 
with  the  regiment,  designating  it  as  he  would 
one  of  his  own,  by  the  name  of  its  colonel. 

The  regiments  were  afterward  in  contact  at 
South  Mills  or  Sawyer's  Lane,  South  Moun 
tain,  Antietam,  and  part  at  least  of  the  Third, 
at  Suffolk,  so  that  the  name  "  Third  Georgia," 
became  in  a  measure  like  a  household  word  in 
the  Ninth. 

After  the  war  was  ended  and  peace  restored 
some  of  the  survivors  of  the  Ninth  whose  busi- 


PRELIMINARIES  TO  THE  REUNION.  465 

ness  took  them  occasionally  into  the  Southern 
States — Georgia  more  particularly — endeavored 
to  find  members  of  the  Third  Georgia,  with 
whom  they  would  like  to  compare  notes  on  the 
"late  unpleasantness,"  and  talk  over  the  "  old 
heroic  days."  Former  members  of  the  respec 
tive  regiment  did  occasionally  meet,  and  in 
formal  invitations  were  extended  in  a  general 
way  from  one  to  the  other,  to  meet  one  or  the 
other  of  the  regimental  associations  at  their 
annual  reunions.  Mr.  Richard  H.  Jackson,  a 
survivor  of  the  Ninth,  finally  put  himself  in 
communication  with  the  officers  of  the  Third 
Georgia  Survivors'  Association,  which  led  to  a 
correspondence  between  said  officers  and  those 
of  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves  Association,  and  a 
formal  invitation  from  the  former  to  the  latter, 
to  attend  their  annual  reunion,  to  be  held  at 
Fort  Valley,  Ga.,  on  July  3ist  and  August  ist, 
1889.  The  invitation  was  extended  by  the 
3d  Georgia  Survivors'  Association  at  their 
annual  meeting  assembled,  the  motion  being 
carried  unanimously  amidst  great  enthusiasm. 
The  reading  of  the  correspondence  which  led 
up  to  it  was  received  with  hearty  cheers  by  the 
survivors  present.  One  of  them  shouted: 
"Thought  we  killed  them  all  off  at  Sharpsburg; 
sorry  we  killed  any  of  that  kind !"  another  said: 
"  Let  us  run  the  reunion  until  we  can  telegraph 
and  have  some  of  them  down." 


466  NINTH  REGIMENT.  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

The  correspondence  between  the  officers  of 
the  two  asssociations,  together  with  the  invita 
tion,  was  received  and  read  at  the  annual  meet 
ing  of  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves  Association,  April 
19,  1889,  together  with  the  following  letter 
transmitting  the  same : 

THE  SURVIVORS'  ASSOCIATION,  30  GEORGIA  VETERANS, 

MADISON,  GA.,  July  24,  1888. 
MR.  J.  C.  J.  LANGBEIN,  New  York  City. 

DEAR  SIR  :  —  In  behalf  of  our  Association,  most  cordially  do  I  second 
the   enclosed   invitation   to   attend   our  reunion.      Come   if  possible. 
Taste  the  sweets  of  peace  with  us  in  partaking  of  a  Georgia  Barbecue. 
That  is  what  "  Banquet  "  means,  as  stated  in  the  invitation  card. 
We  were  foes — Let  us  be  friends. 

Yours  very  cordially. 

W.  A.  WILEY,  Asst.  Secretary. 

The  communication  was  received  with  cheers 
and  amid  great  enthusiasm  the  invitation  was 
accepted;  resolutions  expressing  the  kindly 
feelings  entertained  by  the  members  of  the 
Ninth  New  York  for  their  old  foes  were 
passed,  and  the  Secretary  directed  to  forward 
the  same  to  the  officers  of  the  3d  Georgia 
Association,  and  committees  appointed  with 
power  to  make  all  necessary  arrangements  for 
the  trips  to  Georgia  in  July  following.  Every 
thing  being  completed,  the  delegation  to  attend 
the  Georgia  reunion  left  New  York  by  steamer 
and  arrived  at  Savannah,  July  30,  1889,  where 
they  were  met  by  a  committee  of  the  3d 
Georgia  Survivors,  headed  by  Secretary  A.  A. 
Winn,  of  the  Association.  Other  committees, 


HOW  THEY  WERE  RECEIVED.         467 

both  military  and  civic,  also  called  upon  them 
to  welcome  them  to  the  soil  of  Georgia.  The 
speeches  delivered  were  brimful  of  fraternity, 
patriotism  'and  kind  wishes,  and  the  delegation 
was  literally  overwhelmed  with  invitations  to 
partake  of  the  hospitality  of  the  citizens  and 
of  the  various  organizations  represented  by  the 
committees.  Extended  notices  of  the  arrival 
of  the  ex-Zouaves,  their  object  in  coming  to 
Georgia,  etc.,  with  sketches  of  the  war  services 
of  both  regiments — flattering  to  both — were 
published  in  the  press  of  Savannah,  Macon, 
Madison,  Fort  Valley,  Atlanta,  and  other  towns 
throughout  the  State,  all  of  them  filled  with 
expressions  of  fraternal  greetings  and  cordial 
good  will,  and  in  every  instance  breathing  a 
spirit  of  earnest  patriotism. 

Short  excursions  to  nearby  points  of  interest, 
organized  and  carried  out  by  the  citizens  of 
Savannah,  occupied  every  moment  of  the  time 
the  delegation  was  in  the  city.  At  Macon,  on 
the  way  to  Fort  Valley,  there  was  a  repetition 
of  the  friendly  reception  received  at  Savannah. 

Upon  arriving  at  Fort  Valley  the  3d  Georgia 
Survivors  were  drawn  up  in  a  body  at  the 
depot  to  receive  them.  These  were  supported 
by  a  great  crowd  of  citizens,  and  the  welcome 
extended  was  flattering  in  the  extreme.  A 
salute  of  thirteen  guns  was  fired,  and  an  in- 


468    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

formal  reception  held  amidst  great  enthusiasm 
and  excitement,  cheers  and  hand-shaking,  when 
they  all  proceeded  to  the  grand-stand  where 
the  formal  reception  was  held.  The  Macon 
Telegraph  of  August  I,  1889,  published  the 
following  from  its  Fort  Valley  correspondent: 

"  Fort  Valley,  July  3ist. — The  people  here  are  all  wild  with  enthusi 
asm  over  the  reunion  of  the  3d  Georgia  Regiment,  which  opened  for 
mally  to-day  under  the  most  favorable  and  pleasing  circumstances. 

"  Fort  Valley  is  proud  of  the  opportunity  of  doing  honor  to  herself 
in  honoring  the  grand  old  3d  Georgia  Regiment,  and  a  delegation 
of  the  gth  New  York  Volunteers  —  Hawkins'  Zouaves  —  of  New  York, 
whose  coming  so  far  from  home  for  the  sole  purpose  of  meeting,  fra 
ternally,  a  former  foe  in  one  of  their  regimental  reunions,  evinces  a 
spirit  of  magnanimity  and  manhood  worthy  of  the  highest  admiration, 
and  upon  whom  it  has  been  most  lavishly  bestowed  by  the  men  of  the 
3d  Georgia  Regiment  and  the  citizens  of  Fort  Valley. 

"  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  New  Yorkers,  on  the  11.30  train  this  morn 
ing,  thirteen  rounds  were  fired  in  their  honor  by  orders  from  Colonel 
Claiborn  Snead,  Colonel  of  the  3d  Georgia.  They  received  an  old- 
time  Georgia  welcome  and  one  which  they  will  never  fail  to  appreciate, 
or  which  they  will  ever  forget. 

"  After  the  reception  a  column  was  formed  on  Main  Street,  headed  by 
Card's  Band,  and  the  regiment  together  with  their  guests,  marched  to 
the  grand  stand,  where  the  address  of  welcome  was  most  eloquently 
and  touchingly  delivered  by  Mayor  A.  C.  Riley,  who  formally  turned 
over  to  Fort  Valley's  guests  a  quit  claim  deed  to  the  town  and  the  keys 
to  the  guard-house." 

During  the  course  of  Mayor  Riley's  remarks, 
he  said :  "  Survivors  of  the  Ninth  New  York, 
veterans  of  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves,  we  give  you 
a  cordial  welcome.  We  are  glad  you  were 
volunteers.  Your  presence  does  more  to 
cement  the  bonds  of  love  and  fellowship  than 
all  the  words  of  eloquence  of  all  the  politicians 
and  philanthropists.  It  is  an  honor  to  your 


OLD  FOES  MEET  AS  FRIENDS.  469 

own  grand  State,  to  our  common  country,  to 
yourselves,  and  is  a  living  monument  to  the 
civilization  and  Christianity  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  If  you  were  not  brave  men  you 
would  not  be  here  to-day.  You  could  not 
look  these  old  veterans  in  the  eye  if  you  had  not 
met  them  with  unfaltering  courage  on  the  field 
of  battle.  We  congratulate  you — the  Blue  and 
the  Gray — that  God  has  lengthened  out  your 
lives  to  see  this  day." 

After  the  formal  response  to  the  Mayor's 
greeting  had  been  made  by  the  representative  of 
the  3d  Georgia,  Judge  Langbein,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves  Association,  asked 
permission  to  read  the  following  telegram : 

NEW  YORK,  July  sist,  1889. 

To  J.  C.  J.  LANGBEIN: — Boys  at  home  send  greeting  to  absentees.   All 
hail,  Third  Georgia  !    Once  foes — now  friends. 

(Signed)        HAWKINS'  ZOUAVES   ASSOCIATION. 

This  was  received  with  wild  enthusiasm  by 
the  Georgians,  and  a  hip,  hip  hurrah  ! 

At  the  regular  business  meeting  of  the  3d 
Georgia  Survivors,  which  followed  the  recep 
tions,  these  resolutions  were  adopted: 

Whereas,  The  Hawkins'  Zouaves  have  sent  to  this,  our  annual 
reunion,  a  delegation  to  meet  with  us  as  our  friends, 

Resolved,  That  as  a  manifestation  of  our  appreciation  of  their 
friendship,  and  as  a  testimonial  of  our  lasting  friendship  for  them,  we 
hereby  set  apart  a  page  on  the  minutes  of  our  Association  on  which 
shall  be  entered  the  names  of  the  delegates. 

Resolved,  That  we  hereby  tender  to  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves,  and 
send  them  through  this  committee,  our  grateful  greeting  of  their 
friendship  and  fraternal  union  forever. 


470   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW   YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

A  copy  of  these  was  delivered  to  the  delega 
tion  to  be  presented  to  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves 
Association  at  the  next  meeting. 

A  reception  and  ball  was  tendered  to  the  vis 
iting  Zouaves  that  evening,  at  one  of  the  lead 
ing  hotels.  The  ball  was  held  at  the  hotel,  but 
the  reception  extended  to  every  place  where  a 
member  of  the  visiting  delegation  presented 
himself.  Every  house  was  an  open  one  to 
them  and  they  were  received  as  old  friends  by 
all. 

On  the  next  day  a  formal  and  official  wel 
come  to  the  Zouaves  alone  was  tendered,  and 
speeches  were  made  by  several  prominent 
Georgians,  members  of  the  3d  Georgia,  and 
others.  Colonel  Snead,  Capt.  J.  W.  Matthews, 
C.  B.  Barrow,  John  W.  Lindsey  and  others, 
all  spoke  eloquently  in  reference  to  the  era  of 
peace,  good  will  and  fraternity,  which  was  so 
practically  illustrated  by  the  presence  of  their 
old-time  foes,  now  mingling  among  them  as 
friends. 

Joseph  M.  Richards,  of  the  gth  New  York, 
replied  on  behalf  of  his  comrades,  in  an  earnest, 
patriotic  and  soul-stirring  speech,  closing  in  the 
following  words: 

"Fewer  and  still  fewer,  as  the  years  roll  on, 
will  be  the  trembling  hands  that  will  scatter  the 
fragrance  of  the  spring.  Fainter  and  more  faint 


COMRADE  RICHARD'S  SPEECH.  47  1 

will  the  voices  grow  that  once  answered  with  a 
cheer  the  word  of  command,  until  at  last  eternal 
silence  and  peace  shall  rest  over  the  two  great 
armies  whose  volleys  once  shook  a  continent. 
Only  a  few  days  ago,  as  we  count  time,  the 
flowers  which  were  strewn  by  the  gray-haired 
father  and  mother,  by  wife  and  child,  upon  the 
graves  of  the  Blue  and  the  Gray  alike,  were 
symbols  not  only  of  the  sacrifices  of  those  who 
slept  there,  and  tributes  to  their  bravery,  but 
they  were  significant  of  the  peace  which  has  dif 
fused  as  with  sunshine  this  entire  land,  and  of 
that  brotherly  feeling  which  has  taken  pos 
session  of  the  soldiers'  hearts,  significant  of  the 
determination  that  there  shall  be  but  one 
nation ;  significant,  also,  of  the  fact  that  there 
has  been  and  is  still  growing  a  wider  area 
of  brotherhood  and  good  feeling  among  the 
soldiers  of  both  armies,  and  a  conscious  sense 
that  in  honoring  the  grave  of  the  other  as 
well  as  our  own,  we  are  paying  a  deserved 
tribute  to  the  courage  of  the  American  soldier. 

"  Mr.  John  Ruskin  tells  us,  in  one  of  his 
essays,  of  the  possible  changes  that  may  be 
wrought  from  a  handful  of  dust  which  may 
be  gathered  up  from  the  streets  or  highways, 
or  from  the  valley  slopes  or  mountain  tops; 
that  in  that  handful  of  dust  are  clay  and  sand 
and  soot  and  water.  Give  it  time  enough, 


472    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

and  the  clay  becomes  a  sapphire,  reflecting 
rays  as  blue  as  the  dome  of  heaven  yonder; 
the  sand  becomes  an  opal,  the  soot  a  diamond, 
and  the  drop  of  water  a  blazing  star  of  snow,  so 
wonderful  is  the  chemistry  of  nature,  with  its 
laws  of  co-operation.  Comrades,  the  dust  of 
our  heroes  lies  along  the  roadside  and  high 
ways,  in  the  valley  and  the  thicket  in  the  hidden 
ravine;  it  lies  along  the  mountain  tops  and  the 
riverside.  Spirit  of  our  heroes!  Wherever  you 
lie,  the  ages  are  thine,  and  the  economy  thereof 
is  God's.  His  chemistry  never  fails,  and  your 
dust  and  your  ashes — whether  you  lie  in  name 
less  graves  or  stone-marked  plots — are  being 
wrought  upon  in  the  laboratory  of  the  ages,  and 
are  the  foundation-stones — opal,  sapphire,  dia 
mond — of  this  vast  country,  reaching  from 
ocean  to  ocean,  and  from  gulf  to  lake." 

Comrade  Richards'  address  was  followed  by 
impromptu  remarks  by  other  of  the  Zouaves, 
among  them  Walter  L.  Thompson  and  Robert 
H.  Alberts.  Judge  Langbein  read  a  communi 
cation  which  had  just  been  received  from  New 
York,  as  follows : 

NEW  YORK,  July  3ist,    1889. 
J.  C.  JULIUS   LANGBEIN  : — 

Peace  and  good  will  from  those  of  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves  Association 
who  remain  behind,  to  the  3d  Georgia. 

The  Hawkins'  Zouaves  Association,  composed  of  survivors  of  the 
Ninth  New  York  Volunteers,  at  a  meeting  held  at  their  headquarters, 
on  July  i6th,  1889,  unanimously  resolved,  that  we  hereby  empower 
those  of  our  comrades  who  attend  the  reunion  of  the  3d  Georgia 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  LOCAL  PRESS.  473 

Survivors'  Association  at  Fort  Valley,  Ga.,  July  sist  and  August  ist, 
to  cordially  and  fraternally  invite  them  to  the  next  reunion  of  our  Asso 
ciation  on  April  ioth,  1890. 

J.  C,  J.  LANGBEIN,  Sec'y, 

WALTER  L.  THOMPSON,  Chairman    Ex.    Com. 

The  Fort  Valley  Enterprise,  which  devoted 
almost  an  entire  edition  to  recounting  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  reunion,  thus  speaks  of  this 
detail  of  the  reception : 

"  The  Judge  also  read  an  extract  from  a  sermon  delivered  by  Rev. 
Clark  Wright  (one  of  the  survivors  of  the  Ninth)  to  the  Hawkins' 
Zouaves  at  their  memorial  services  last  May,  and  published  in  the 
Westchester  (N.  Y.)  Times,  full  of  noble  sentiments  towards  southern 
soldiers,  and  especially  toward  the  3d  Georgia,  which  the  Zouaves  met 
in  several  battles.  He  also  read  a  letter  of  great  cordiality  addressed 
to  Commodore  Dexter,  commending  him  for  his  praiseworthy  efforts  to 
bring  about  a  meeting  between  these  two  commands.  He  also  pre 
sented  the  regiment  with  a  souvenir  from  Mrs.  Johnson  (handed  to 
liim  when  he  was  boarding  the  steamer  for  Savannah),  being  a  stone 
taken  from  a  wall  at  Antietam,  in  which  Federal  and  Confederate 
bullets  are  imbedded.  But  the  tide  of  enthusiasm,  which  at  this  point 
was  well-nigh  lapping  the  highest  dike,  burst  over  all  restraint  when 
Judge  Langbein  brought  forth  a  shield  of  immortelles  of  blue  and  gray, 
bearing  across  its  face  the  words  '  gth  New  York  Volunteer  Zouaves  to 
3d  Georgia  Regiment — Peace  and  Good  Will.'  This  was  presented  in 
eloquent  words  and  was  a  charge  in  this  contention  of  fraternal  feeling 
which  made  the  veterans  of  the  36.  Georgia  waver,  and  when  the 
Judge  concluded,  the  Colonel  of  the  old  Third,  seeing  that  he  was 
about  to  lose  the  day,  rushed  in  the  Commodore  —  the  great  standby 
who  never  flinched  in  times  of  trial  —  to  recover  the  lost  ground,  which 
he  did  eloquently  and  in  well  chosen  words." 

Commodore  Dexter's  speech  was  brimful  of 
fraternal  greetings,  sentiments  of  good  will  and 
patriotic  utterances,  many  references  being 
made  to  incidents  which  occurred  during 
periods  the  two  regiments  were  facing  each 
other  as  foes,  and  brought  the  public  part  of 
the  reception  to  a  close  in  a  storm  of  enthusi- 


474   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS, 

asm  in  which  the  rebel  yell  and  Yankee  cheer 
were  again  blended. 

The  return  trip  of  the  Zouaves  was  attended 
with  the  same  enthusiasm  which  had  marked 
their  journey  to  Fort  Valley;  the  people  of 
Macon  and  Savannah  extending  every  atten 
tion  possible,  making  their  stay  among  them 
seem  all  too  short. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Hawkins'  Zou 
aves  Association,  held  at  136  Fifth  Ave.,  New 
York,  on  September  soth,  1889,  Comrade  Rich 
ards,  on  behalf  of  the  visiting  delegation,  re 
ported  the  details  of  the  visit,  and  the  kind  of 
reception  accorded  them  by  the  survivors  of  the 
3d  Georgia,  and  the  treatment  received  at  the 
hands  of  the  veterans  and  their  people,  which 
aroused  the  greatest  enthusiasm  among  the 
members  present. 

A  committee  of  seven  was  appointed  to  pre 
pare  and  forward  to  the  3d  Georgia  Survi 
vors  a  resolution  expressive  of  the  feelings  of 
the  Association  at  the  kind  hospitality  with 
which  they  had  received  the  delegation, 
and  to  extend  a  cordial  invitation  to  the  mem 
bers  of  that  Association  to  attend  the  reunion 
of  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves  on  the  igth  of 
April  following. 

The  committee  presented  the  following,  which 
were  unanimously  adopted: 


INVITATION  TO  THE  THIRD   GEORGIA.  47 &• 

Resolved,  That  the  reception  of  the  delegation  of  this  Association 
bearing  our  token  of  "  Peace  and  Good  will  "  to  the  Survivors'  Associa 
tion  of  the  3d  Georgia  Regiment,  at  their  reunion  in  July  and  August 
last,  as  described  in  the  report  of  our  delegation,  was  marked  by  so 
warm  a  hospitality  and  brotherly  attention,  that  it  is  meet  that  an 
expression  of  our  heartfelt  appreciation  and  grateful  acknowledgment 
be  made  therefor. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  our  sincere  desire  to  have  the  opportunity  by  a 
return  visit  from  our  friends  to  express  also  to  them  at  our  homes  the 
warm  attachment  which  animates  the  hearts  of  the  survivors  of  the 
old  gth  New  York  Volunteers  toward  their  oft-repeated  foe  in  battle 
and  friends  in  peace,  the  survivers  of  the  old  3d  Georgia  Regiment, 
and  that  we  extend  to  them  a  hearty  invitation  to  be  with  us  at  our 
next  reunion,  to  be  held  in  this  city  on  the  igth  day  of  April,  1890,  and 
that  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  spread  on  our  minutes,  and  a  copy 
be  forwarded  to  the  Survivors'  Association,  of  the  3d  Georgia  Regi 
ment,  with  the  urgent  request  that  as  many  as  can  will  be  with  us  on. 
the  igth  of  April  next. 

(Signed)    JOHN  HASSALL,  CHARLES  CURIE, 

JOSEPH  H.  STINER,     JOHN  T.  MILLER, 
SAMUEL  L.  MARSH,     JAMES  DUFFY, 
CLARK  WRIGHT. 

JOHN  B.  PANNES,  President, 

Hawkins'  Zouaves  Association. 
J.  C.  JULIUS  LANGBEIN, 

Secretary. 

These  were  forwarded  to  W.  A.  Wiley,  Sec 
retary  of  the  3d  Georgia  Survivors'  Association,, 
on  February  2oth,  1890,  but  as  the  Association 
did  not  hold  a  meeting  until  the  annual  reunion 
in  July  following,  no  action  could  be  taken  until 
then,  when  the  following  answer  was  received: 

SAVANNAH,  GA.,  September,  10,  1890. 
JUDGE  J.  C.  JULIUS  LANGBEIN,  Secretary, 

Hawkins'  Zouaves  Association,  New  York. 

DEAR  SIR: — At  the  annual  reunion  of  the  survivors  of  the  3d  Georgia 
Regiment,  held  at  Irvington,  Ga.,  on  the  3oth  and  3ist  of  July,  1890, 
the  following  resolutions  were  adopted  by  a  rising  vote,  three  cheers, 
and  the  famous  "  Tiger."  Very  truly  yours, 

A.  A.  WINN,  Secretary. 


476  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Resolved,  That  the  kindly  expressions  of  fraternal  feelings  shown  by 
the  gih  New  York  Volunteers  (Hawkins'  Zouaves),  at  their  annual 
business  meeting,  held  in  the  City  of  New  York,  September  3oth,  1889, 
for  the  Survivors'  Association,  3d  Georgia  Regiment,  be,  and  the  same 
are  hereby  reciprocated  individually  and  collectively. 

Resolved,  That  we  accept  with  heartfelt  thanks  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves 
kind  invitation  to  be  present  with  them  at  their  reunion,  April  19,  1891, 
and  we  urgently  request  our  Association  to  see  that  a  delegation  attend 
said  meeting. 

Resolved,  That  the  3d  Georgia  Survivors  in  reunion  assembled,  send 
greeting  and  kindly  remembrances  to  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves,  their  foes 
in  battle — their  friends  in  peace. 

Resolved,  further,  That  our  Secretary  furnish  to  the  gih  New  York 
"Volunteers  (Hawkins'  Zouaves),  a  copy  of  these  resolutions. 

CLAIBORNE  SNEAD, 
President  of  the  3d  Georgia  Veterans, 

Augusta,  Ga. 

A.  A.  WINN,  Secretary,  Savannah,  Ga. 

WALTER  A.  WILEY,  Asst.  Sec'y,  Madisor,  Ga. 

As  soon  as  the  above  resolutions,  with  the 
letters  of  acceptance  which  accompanied  them, 
were  received,  the  preliminary  movements  to 
ward  making  the  reunion  a  success  were  in 
augurated.  Inasmuch  as  the  coming  event 
was  not  only  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the 
organization  of  the  Ninth  New  York,  but  was 
also  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Sawyer's 
Lane,  or  South  Mills,  as  known  by  the  Con 
federates  and  Federals  respectively,  and  in 
which  these  two  regiments  took  the  most  con 
spicuous  parts  and  suffered  the  greatest  loss, 
it  was  the  determination  of  the  veterans  of  the 
Ninth  to  make  the  occasion  an  historic  one 
in  every  respect.  It  was  also  their  wish  and 
intention  to  enable  their  friends  from  Georgia, 


RECEPTION  TO  THE  GEORGIANS.  47 T 

most  of  whom  had  never  before  visited  New 
York,  to  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  seeing  as  many 
places  in  and  about  the  city  of  interest  and  of 
novelty  to  them,  as  it  was  possible  to  reach 
during  their  short  stay,  and  to  make  every 
moment  of  that  stay  enjoyable  and  interesting. 

The  regular  Reception  Committee  consisted 
of  George  F.  Betts,  Edward  Jardine,  James  R. 
Whiting,  James  B.  Horner,  Richard  R.  Jack 
son,  George  W.  Debevoise,  Robert  H.  Alberts, 
John  W.  Jacobus,  Walter  L.  Thompson,  J.  C.  J. 
Langbein,  Latham  A.  Fish,  Charles  Curie, 
Joseph  M.  Richards  and  Richard  H.  Morris. 

On  Sunday  evening,  April  i8th,  the  delega 
tion  of  the  3d  Georgia,  consisting  -  -  ladies 
included --of  seventeen  persons,  arrived  by 
steamer  from  Savannah.  They  were  met  at 
the  wharf  by  the  committee  and  others  of  the 
Zouaves,  and  an  enthusiastic  reception  was 
given  them.  Carriages  were  in  waiting,  and 
after  the  first  salutations  were  exchanged,  they 
were  driven  to  the  Hotel  Brunswick,  where 
accommodations  had  been  provided  for  them 
and  where  they  made  their  headquarters  during 
their  stay  in  New  York.  Monday  was  devoted 
to  sightseeing.  Carriages  were  provided  and 
the  visitors,  escorted  by  members  of  the  Ninth, 
enjoyed  a  ride  in  Central  Park  and  Riverside 
Drive,  and  had  an  opportunity  to  visit  the 


-478    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Museum  of  Fine  Arts  and  of  Natural  History, 
and  several  other  interesting  places. 

The  hour  for  the  reunion  was  set  for  six 
o'clock,  at  which  time  all  the  survivors  of  the 
Ninth  who  could  possibly  reach  New  York 
were  present — one  hundred  and  fifteen  in  all. 
While  the  Zouaves  and  their  guests  of  the 
Third  were  enjoying  an  interval  of  pleasant 
social  converse,  previous  to  entering  the  supper 
room,  Major  R.  L.  McWhorter,  of  the  3rd 
Georgia,  introduced  Miss  Lizzie  Snead,  the 
daughter  of  Colonel  Claiborne  Snead,  of  the 
Third,  and  also  the  daughter  of  the  regiment, 
who  in  a  very  charming  and  earnest  manner  and 
in  appropriate,  well  chosen  and  complimentary 
language,  presented  a  handsome  silk  national 
flag,  which  she  had  made  with  her  own  hands, 
to  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves  Association.  Her 
little  speech  was  filled  with  beautiful  senti 
ments  suitable  to  the  occasion,  and  when  she 
concluded  the  cheers  from  the  veterans  of  both 
regiments  almost  shook  the  building.  Judge 
Langbein  responded,  on  behalf  of  the  Ninth,  in 
a  short  but  touching  address. 

Arrangements  had  previously  been  made  for 
a  theatre  party  of  ladies  for  the  evening  and  at 
the  conclusion  of  Judge  Langbein's  response 
the  visiting  ladies,  accompanied  by  the  wives 
and  daughters  of  several  members  of  the 


AN  ENJOYABLE  REUNION.  479 

Hawkins'  Zouaves  Association,  were  escorted 
to  the  play,  where  they  enjoyed  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  a  first-class  performance  as  it  is  given 
before  a  metropolitan  audience. 

The  speechmaking  was  still  in  full  swing 
when  the  performance  ended  and  the  party 
returned  to  the  hotel.  Seats  having  been  pro 
vided  for  them  in  the  balcony  of  the  banquet 
room,  they  were  escorted  thither  and  for  the 
remainder  of  the  evening  listened  to  the  flow 
of  eloquence  and  viewed  the  scene  of  animation 
and  enthusiasm  on  the  floor. 

The  banquet  was  served  in  the  ballroom  of 
the  hotel,  which  was  handsomely  decorated  for 
the  occasion,  the  national  flag  being  used 
lavishly  for  that  purpose.  Conspicuous  among 
the  decorations  were  the  tattered  and  moth- 
eaten  flags  of  the  Ninth,  which  they  had  carried 
through  the  great  conflict.  When  the  time  for 
speechmaking  had  arrived  Colonel  Hawkins 
arose,  and  in  an  exceedingly  happy  and  pleas 
ant  address,  welcomed  both  comrades  and 
guests  to  the  gathering. 

He  said,  in  part:  "Comrades  of  the  Ninth 
New  York,  and  friends  of  the  3d  Georgia, 
let  us  rejoice  that  we  have  lived  to  realize  the 
simple  fact  of  this  occasion,  an  unimportant 
event  in  the  history  of  a  nation,  but  one  which 
emphasizes  an  existing  sentiment  for  a  broader 


48O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

nationality  and  the  vanishing  of  those  imagin 
ary  lines,  which  are  supposed  to  mark  the 
boundaries  of  sections.  It  is  also  a  rare  oasis 
in  the  great  desert  of  the  usual  commonplace 
of  modern  life,  and  mutually  we  must  ever 
regard  it,  and  the  memories  it  calls  forth,  as  our 
most  precious  possessions."  #  #  #  "  The  mid 
dle-aged  men  now  here,  assembled  to  celebrate 
the  birthday  of  a  New  York  regiment,  were 
soldiers  in  two  of  the  earliest  infantry  com 
mands  to  take  the  field  upon  either  side.  They 
represented  the  two  so-called  Empire  States  of 
their  respective  sections,  and  how  worthily  their 
courage  reflected  credit  upon  the  communities 
to  which  they  belonged  has  already  been  re 
corded."  Colonel  Hawkins  then  sketched  in 
a  rapid  and  masterly  manner  the  progress  of 
the  war,  the  many  and  great  changes  made  in 
warfare,  armaments  and  fortifications  from  time 
to  time  during  the  conflict.  He  related,  face 
tiously,  the  details  of  the  various  meetings  be 
tween  the  two  regiments  in  battle,  and  dwelt 
on  the  mutual  respect  with  which  each,  no 
doubt,  regarded  the  other,  as  a  result  of  such 
interviews,  which  brought  fourth  rounds  of 
applause  and  heartly  laughter ;  continuing  he 
said  :  "  The  war  went  on.  One  regiment  left 
the  service  at  the  expiration  of  its  term  and 
before  the  close,  the  other  fought  to  the  end 


COL.  HAWKIWS  WELCOME  TO  THE  3d  GEORGIA.  481 

and  went  down  with  the  battle-scarred  colors 
that  had  floated  over  it  through  those  four  long 
years  of  unheard-of  privations  and  almost  su 
perhuman  endeavor,  never  again  to  rise  above 
the  storm  of  battle  or  to  be  recognized  as 
a  national  emblem.  But  the  star  of  victory 
that  illumined  the  banner  of  the  conqueror 
was  one  of  mercy,  tempering  the  pride  of  the 
victorious  and  softening  the  sadness  of  defeat. 
The  scarred  veterans  of  a  hundred  fields  re 
joiced  that  peace  had  come,  and  with  longing 
eyes  and  quick  beating  pulse,  looked  afar  off 
toward  the  dear  ones  and  the  homes  they  had 
left  when  the  bugle  blast  summoned  them  to 
danger,  and  alas,  for  many,  to  the  path  of  fame, 
which  lead  only  to  the  field  of  death.  *  *  * 
A  new  South  has  risen  from  out  the  ashes  of 
war,  more  glorious,  more  national,  and  better 
equipped  for  those  victories  incident  to  the  arts 
of  peace  than  ever  before.  It  did  not  take  the 
men  of  the  South  four  years  to  teach  us  that 
they  knew  how  to  fight,  nor  has  it  taken 
twenty-five  years  to  prove  their  capacity  for 
labor.  The  tenacity  of  purpose  they  showed 
upon  the  field  of  battle  did  not  forsake  them 
when  the  dawn  of  peace  smiled  upon  their 
shattered  banners,  but  followed  to  a  new  sphere 
of  action,  and  enabled  them  to  achieve  new 
victories.  *  *  *  In  this  spirit  we,  who  are 


482    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

left  of  the  Ninth  New  York,  greet  you  who  are 
left  of  the  3d  Georgia.  We  differ  with  you  as 
to  the  principle  for  which  you  fought,  but  we 
are  certain  you  believed  it  right,  and  we  know 
you  contended  for  it  like  brave  men,  and  in 
your  heroic  efforts  we  rejoice.  There  is  no 
difference  between  us  now  ;  we  are  of  one 
nationality,  and  are  proud  of  our  joint  history 
of  courage  and  heroism  which  has  become 
the  common  inheritance  of  our  whole  people. 

"  It  now  becomes  a  pleasurable  duty,  around 
which  centers  a  sentimental  appreciation  of  an 
unique  occasion,  such  as  none  of  those  now 
present  are  ever  likely  to  witness  again,  and  it 
is  to  express  the  greeting  which  we  so  gladly 
give  to  the  foes  of  other  days — brothers  of  the 
same  race  and  friends  now.  There  is  the 
ample,  good  old  Saxon  word  so  dear  to  all 
English-speaking  lips  which  comes  near  ex 
pressing  all  we  feel,  and  I  am  certain  that 
every  veteran  of  the  Ninth  now  present  will 
join  with  me  when  I  say  to  the  survivors  of  the 
3d  Georgia,  '  welcome  a  thousand  times  to  this, 
the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  its  organization.' ' 

After  the  applause  which  greeted  the  con 
clusion  of  Colonel  Hawkins'  welcome  had 
subsided,  Colonel  Snead  arose  to  make  reply, 
and  the  following  is  part  of  what  he  said: 

"  Colonel  Hawkins  and  friends  of  the  Ninth 


COL.  SNEAD'S  RESPONSE.  483 

New  York :  For  your  generous  welcome  we 
are  profoundly  grateful.  It  reaches  the  heart 
and  touches  a  responsive  chord  in  the  bosoms 
of  men  who  were  your  adversaries  in  time  of 
war,  but  since  have  learned  to  regard  you  as 
true  and  trusted  friends  in  these  halcyon  days 
of  peace.  *  *  *  In  this  demonstration  we 
take  nothing  personal  to  ourselves,  for  we  are 
but  a  small  delegation  from  the  veteran  sur 
vivors  of  a  regiment  that  for 'four  long  years 
traversed  in  martial  array  the  hills  and  valleys 
of  old  Virginia,  and  whose  history  is  very 
dear  to  us,  in  that  it  is  crimsoned  all  over  with 
the  blood  of  fallen  comrades.  And  this  tribute 
is  especially  gratifying,  coming. as  it  does  from 
soldiers  whom  I  have  seen,  on  more  than  one 
occasion,  march  unflinchingly  into  battle  with 
a  sheet  of  fire  blazing  in  their  faces,  but  whose 
gallantry  as  far  outshone  that  fire  as  did  the 
stars  of  heaven  in  their  brilliancy. 

"  We  first  made  your  acquaintance  near  the 
jungles  of  the  Dismal  Swamp,  North  Carolina, 
in  the  earlier  days  of  the  war.  Then  your 
greeting  was  so  warm  that  we  rejoiced  when 
the  interview  was  over.  On  two  other  memo 
rable  occasions  your  persistent  attentions  to 
us  at  close  quarters  were  of  such  a  character 
as  to  render  our  position  extremely  uncom 
fortable,  but  when  we  parted  I  am  sure  it  was 


484   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

with  mutual  respect  and  with  no  eager  desire 
to  meet  soon  again.  * 

"Your  regiment  from  New  York,  like  ours 
from  Georgia,  enlisted  early  in  1861,  without 
any  draft  upon  your  part  or  conscription  on 
ours.  Here  were  Northern  boys  and  Southern 
boys,  with  the  baptismal  dew  of  youth  fresh 
upon  their  brows,  who  cheerily  went  forth  to 
battle  in  obedience  to  what  each  deemed  to  be 
his  duty.  And  whether  right  or  wrong,  from 
your  standpoint  or  mine,  I  care  not,  for  there 
is  the  pleasing  reflection  that  each  displayed 
the  noblest  attributes  of  a  soldiery  that  knew  so 
well  how  to  illustrate  American  valor.  *  *  * 

"Thus  united  by  the  ties  of  friendship  and 
animated  by  a  lofty  patriotism,  they  can  mutu 
ally  join  in  the  grand  acclaim - 

A  union  of  rivers  and  a  union  of  lakes. 

A  union  of  lands  and  a  union  of  States, 
A  union  of  hearts  and  a  union  of  hands, 

And  the  flag  of  our  Union  forever." 

The  cheering  and  applause  which  greeted 
these  remarks  were  enthusiastic,  and  were  again 
and  again  renewed. 

The  Rev.  Clark  Wright,  to  whom  was 
assigned  the  duty  of  responding  to  the  toast 
in  honor  of  the  Ninth  New  York,  had  a 
delightful  task  to  perform,  and  one  to  which 
he  was  [fully  equal.  He  said:  "A  private  sol 
dier  who  carried  a  gun,  who  was  the  least 


SPEECH  OF  THE  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  485 

of  all  the  men  who  surround  you  to-night,  is 
to  tell  you  what  you  have  already  learned  in 
your  intercourse  with  the  members  of  the 
Hawkins'  Zouaves  Association  of  this  city, 
namely,  that  we  are  glad  to  see  you,  and 
that  we  take  great  pleasure  in  giving  you  a 
most  cordial  welcome  to  this  the  thirtieth 
anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the  Ninth 
New  York  Volunteers." 

He  sketched  the  history  of  the  regiment, 
its  organization  and  services,  in  a  very  inter 
esting  manner,  at  the  same  time  referring,  in 
a  way  which  produced  much  applause  and 
shouts  of  laughter,  to  the  meetings  which 
took  place  between  the  two  regiments  during 
the  war  and  to  the  opinion  each  had  of  the 
other  at  that  time,  and  concluded  as  follows : 

"You,  my  countrymen, whether  from  Georgia 
or  New  York,  to-night,  these  the  remnant  of 
more  than  two  thousand  men,  these  your 
comrades  gathered  here  to  salute  you  as  we 
bring  to  mind  your  faithfulness  as  soldiers 
and  rejoice  with  you  that  our  country  has 
passed  from  the  hurricane  to  the  calm,  from 
out  of  all  that  crash  of  which  we  were  part, 
to  liberty,  union,  brotherly  love  and  peace." 

The  response  for  "  the  3d  Georgia"  was  by 
Hon.  John  W.  Lindsey,  one  of  the  survivors, 
and  formerly  a  sergeant  in  that  regiment, 
who  spoke  in  part  as  follows: 


486   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

"Fellow  countrymen,  I  deem  it  an  honor  to 
stand  here  and  respond  to  the  encomiums 
pronounced  upon  the  soldiers  of  the  Confed 
erate  Army.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  greet 
you  as  fellow  countrymen,  for  we  are  sons 
of  a  common  mother,  on  whose  bosom  we 
lean  for  protection.  We  are  here  to-night, 
true  to  our  allegiance  to  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  American  Union,  without  any 
qualification  whatever ;  to  demand  nothing  but 
what  you  are  willing  to  grant  us  as  free  Amer 
icans;  to  invite  you  to  join  with  us  and  aid 
us  in  driving  from  our  vocabulary  that  most 
abominable  of  all  words — sectionalism. 
We  are  here  to  renew  an  acquaintance  sought 
long  years  ago,  under  less  favorable  circum 
stances,  and  with  you  to  transmit  the  spirit 
of  these  fraternal  greetings  to  the  youth  of 
the  land,  for  we  desire  to  consecrate  not  only 
ourselves,  but  our  sons  and  daughters,  to  the 
preservation  of  the  liberty  of  this  Union.  '  * 
We  see  as  you  do  those  columns  of  blue  and 
gray  in  the  fields  of  Virginia,  who  fell  fighting 
for  the  cause  they  believed  to  be  the  true  one. 
In  vindication  of  that  right  of  our  convictions, 
we  discharged  our  duty,  as  you  did. 
But  when  you  fought  your  last  fight,  fired  your 
last  volley,  and  received  the  command  that 
began  your  homeward  march  from  Appomat- 


RE  TROSPECTION  B  Y  SERG  T.  LINDSE  Y.  487 

tox,  you  went  to  be  greeted  as  victors — the 
voices  of  a  thousand  cannon  gave  you  a  wel 
come  such  as  never  had  been  heard  before. 
Thus  you  returned,  and  retired  to  your  homes 
to  enjoy  all  that  is  sweet  and  dear  to  noble 
manhood  basking  in  the  sunshine  of  grateful 
people.  You  forgot  that  other  army  which  left 
Appomattox  on  the  same  day  that  you  did. 
Our  march  southward  was  not  greeted  with 
applause,  nor  our  announcement  welcomed  by 
cannon.  We  bade  each  other  good  bye  in 
silence,  and  shed  tears  as  we  departed  to  our 
homes,  only  to  see  the  marks  of  desolation  left 
by  the  stern  hand  of  war.  What  did  we  do? 
Sit  down  and  brood  in  silence  ?  No.  We 
stepped  from  the  very  warpath  of  battle  to 
the  works  of  peace.  We  walked  behind  the 
plow  to  win  a  living  for  our  own.  Our  farms 
were  devastated,  our  slaves  freed,  our  families 
scattered,  yet  we  went  to  work  in  the  sunshine 
of  peace  in  the  same  spirit  in  which  we  had  en 
gaged  in  war.  *  *  *  By  industry  we  have 
wrung  from  the  soil  our  sustenance.  As  years 
have  rolled  on  recuperation  has  come,  and  now 
we  have  a  country  to  which  we  are  proud  to 
invite  you,  and  to  which  we  do  invite  you." 

The  speech  and  the  sentiments  of  Sergeant 
Lindsey  were  greeted  by  enthusiastic  applause, 
which  was  not  subdued  until  the  chairman 


488    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

announced  that  the  formal  exercises  of  the 
evening  would  close  by  the  recitation  of  Gen. 
Charles  G.  Halpin's  poem,  "Just  Eleven." 
This  was  given  by  Maj.  James  B.  Horner  in 
excellent  style. 

Robert  L.  Johnson,  of  the  Zouaves,  in  a  voice 
which  his  comrades  thought  had  lost  none  of 
its  sweetness,  then  sang  one  of  the  old  songs  of 
the  soldier  days,  when  the  meeting  became 
an  informal  camp  fire,  which  continued  until 
a  late  hour. 

Next  day  enough  carriages  were  provided 
to  accommodate  all  the  guests  of  the  Associ 
ation,  together  with  the  members  of  the 
Reception  Committee,  composed  of  Messrs. 
Horner,  Langbein,  Searing,  Curie  and  Miller, 
who  accompanied  them,  and  an  extended  sight 
seeing  tour  was  entered  upon.  This  covered  as 
much  of  the  upper  portion  of  Manhattan  Island 
as  could  be  comfortably  gone  over  in  a  day. 
On  the  way  up,  all  places  of  interest  on  the 
east  side  of  Washington  Heights  and  upper 
part  of  the  island  were  visited,  and  the 
strangers  afforded  ample  time  to  view  the 
same. 

Arriving  at  Fort  George,  one  of  the  most 
beautifully  romantic  spots  on  the  whole  island, 
and  from  which  a  grand  panoramic  view  of  the 
Harlem  river  and  the  heights  of  Westchester 


KEEPING  THE  GEORGIANS  BUSY.  489 

may  be  obtained,  the  party  stopped  for 
luncheon,  the  West  End  Hotel  having  been 
secured  by  the  committee  for  their  exclusive 
use  for  that  purpose. 

The  return  to  the  city  was  by  the  western 
roads,  from  which  many  fine  views  of  the  Hud 
son  and  the  palisades  beyond  may  be  obtained, 
and  which  also  gave  the  visitors  the  oppor 
tunity  to  admire  the  many  elegant  private 
residences  which  are  dotted  so  thickly  along 
the  different  roads,  and  the  large  number  of 
stately  buildings,  the  homes  of  public  and 
semi-public  institutions  of  a  beneficent  char 
acter,  with  which  that  portion  of  NewT  York  is 
graced. 

Sight-seeing  was  continued  almost  without 
interruption  during  the  remainder  of  the  stay 
of  the  visitors,  with  occasional  theater  parties 
and  luncheons,  to  break  the  monotony  and 
give  variety. 

A  cordial  invitation  had  been  received  from 
the  proprietor,  through  Mr.  Robert  L.  Cutler, 
the  erst-time  manager  of  "  The  Zouave  Minstrel 
and  Dramatic  Club,"  of  Roanoke  Island,  for 
the  members  of  the  Association  and  their 
guests  to  visit  Harrigan's  Theater.  This  was 
accepted,  with  the  thanks  of  the  comrades,  and 
a  large  party  enjoyed  one  of  Harrigan's  inim 
itable  productions.  Arrangements  had  been 


490    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

made  which  afforded  ample  facilities  for  such 
of  the  guests  as  delighted  in  theatrical  enter 
tainments  to  visit  the  theaters  on  any  evening 
during  their  stay. 

Comrade  John  T.  Miller  and  Adolph  Libaire 
escorted  parties  of  the  visiting  delegation  to 
the  Stock  and  Produce  Exchanges,  thus  giving 
the  Georgians  an  opportunity  to  observe  the 
antics  of  the  Bulls  and  Bears  in  their  native 
jungles. 

A  trip  to  West  Point  was  arranged,  and 
the  whole  delegation,  under  the  escort  of 
Messrs.  Searing,  Horner  and  Jackson,  visited 
that  historic  and  interesting  place.  They  were 
cordially  welcomed  by  the  officers  of  the  Mil 
itary  Academy,  who  entertained  them  very 
pleasantly  during  their  stay,  and  took  special 
pains  to  make  their  visit  an  exceedingly  grati 
fying  and  memorable  one.  This  visit  to 
historic  West  Point,  combined  with  the  river 
journey  and  the  grand  scenery  of  the  noble 
Hudson,  will  no  doubt  long  remain  a  pleasant 
memory  with  the  participants,  both  visitors 
and  guests. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  stay  in  New  York 
the  ladies  of  the  visiting  delegation  were 
entertained  at  luncheon  at  the  Downtown 
Club  by  Mr.  Latham  A.  Fish,  one  of  the 
committee.  It  was  designed  to  be  an  affair 


ENTERTAINING  THE  VISITING  LADIES,         491 

that  would  be  remembered  with  pleasure  by 
those  in  whose  honor  it  was  given,  and  the 
resources  of  the  establishment  were  taxed  to 
the  utmost  in  making  it  elegant  and  dainty, 
even  beyond  what  was  usual  at  that  exclusive 
club.  The  room  was  tastefully  and  hand 
somely  decorated,  the  tables  banked  with  flow 
ers  and  elegant  souvenir  menus,  handsomely 
designed  and  printed  on  satin,  were  provided 
for  each  of  the  guests. 

After  nearly  a  week  devoted  to  entertain 
ment,  pleasure  and  recreation,  and  during 
which  the  members  of  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves 
Association  had  taxed  their  ingenuity  for  ways 
to  provide  novel  and  pleasant  surprises  for 
their  guests,  the  Georgians — the  time  allowed 
for  their  visit  having  expired — departed  for 
their  homes  by  the  Savannah  steamer.  A 
numerous  delegation  of  Zouaves  escorted  them 
to  the  wharf. 

A  meeting  of  the  Georgians  was  held  on 
board  the  ship  just  before  sailing,  and  a  series 
of  resolutions  very  flattering  to  the  men  of 
the  Ninth  were  passed  and  a  copy  of  the  same 
handed  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Association. 

The  New  York  Sun,  in  its  issue  of  the  next 
day,  thus  summarizes  the  visit  of  the  3d 
Georgia: 


492   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

"The  Confederate  veterans  of  the  36.  Georgia  Survivors'  Association 
have  received  a  hearty  welcome  in  the  city.  They  have  fraternized 
with  the  Union  veterans  of  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves.  They  have  been 
banqueted  in  the  New  York  style  to  their  hearts'  content.  They  have 
been  taken  to  various  theateis  by  day  and  by  night.  They  have 
enjoyed  the  speeches  of  sundry  ready  orators,  as  well  as  the  strains  of 
music,  and  they  have  seen  the  sights  of  the  city  and  its  parks  from  the 
open  carriages  that  were  at  their  service.  We  trust  that  these  Con 
federate  veterans  from  Georgia  have  had  a  pleasant  time  during  the 
several  days  of  their  stay  in  New  York." 

Thus  ended  a  meeting  which  probably  has 
no  parallel  in  the  pages  of  history.  Two 
regiments  serving  in  opposing  armies,  whose 
acquaintance  began  on  the  battlefield  while 
engaged  in  deadly  strife,  sought  each  other  out 
after  peace  had  been  secured,  and  in  admira 
tion,  each  for  the  other,  and  actuated  by  an 
earnest  desire  to  re-establish  cordial  fraternity 
between  those  who  had  once  been  foes,  met 
together  and  announced  to  the  world  that  there 
was  no  lingering  animosity  in  the  breasts  of 
either,  that  the  victors  had  no  conditions  they 
wished  imposed  upon  the  vanquished,  and 
that  the  latter  fully  and  without  equivocation  or 
reservation,  accepted  the  verdict  of  the  sword 
and  became  brothers  under  one  flag  with  their 
former  foes. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CEREMONIES  AT  THE  DEDICATION  OF  THE  MONUMENT 
ERECTED  ON  THE  BATTLEFIELD  OF  ANTIETAM  IN 
MEMORY  OF  THE  DEAD  OF  THE  NINTH  NEW  YORK 
VOLUNTEERS  —  PRELIMINARY  WORK  OF  THE  COM 
MITTEES—JOURNEY  TO  THE  BATTLEFIELD  — COM 
RADE  RICHARD'S  INVOCATION  —  COMRADE  GRA 
HAM'S  INTRODUCTION  —  ADDRESS  BY  COLONEL 
HAWKINS  — UNVEILING  THE  MONUMENT  — ORATION 
BY  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT,  OF  COMPANY  F  —  THE 
PRESENTATION  TO  GENERAL  CARMAN  —  REVISIT 
ING  POINTS  OF  INTEREST— THE  RETURN. 

FOR  years  the  intention  to  erect  a  monument 
to  perpetuate  the  name  and  fame  of  the 
Ninth  New  York  Volunteers  (Hawkins'  Zou 
aves),  and  to  commemorate  those  who  yielded 
up  their  lives  in  defense  of  the  nation  during 
its  term  of  service,  had  been  steadily  kept  in 
view  by  the  Association  composed  of  the  sur 
vivors  of  that  regiment. 

As  early  as  in  the  latter  days  of  the  service 
of  the  regiment,  at  Suffolk,  Va.,  the  matter  was 
frequently  talked  over,  and  ways  and  means 
of  successfully  accomplishing  the  desired  object 
discussed.  At  first  the  intention  was  vague 
and  undefined.  It  was  an  intention  but  was 
without  form.  The  men  were  young  and  in- 


494   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

experienced  in  business  methods  and  hardly 
knew  how  to  begin. 

Years  passed  with  nothing  accomplished.  At 
last,  in  1890  or  1891,  the  question  was  brought 
up  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Association, 
and  it  was  resolved  that  a  united  and  deter 
mined  effort  should  be  made  to  accomplish 
this  most  desirable  object. 

Among  the  most  active  of  the  comrades  in 
assisting  to  bring  the  work  to  a  successful 
completion,  and  whose  names  should  be  men 
tioned  here  in  connection  with  it,  were  Rush 
C.  Hawkins,  Robert  L.  Johnston,  James  B. 
Horner,  P.  J.  L.  Searing,  Charles  Curie,  Walter 
L.  Thompson,  J.  C.  J.  Langbein,  James  H. 
Folan,  John  T.  Miller,  John  Hassall,  George  W. 
Debevoise,  John  W.  Jacobus,  Latham  A.  Fish, 
and  James  R.  Whiting,  all* of  whom  assisted 
in  every  way  possible,  to  further  the  object  in 
view. 

The  actual  labor  was  divided  among  several 
sub-committees,  each  of  which  had  its  own 
separate  part,  while  all  worked  together.  An 
immense  amount  of  detail  had  to  be  worked 
out.  An  appropriation  of  five  thousand  dollars 
was  secured  from  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  and  an  equal  sum  was  sub 
scribed  and  paid  by  the  members  of  the  Asso 
ciation.  These  amounts  provided  for  cost. 


NECESSARY  PRELIMINARY  WORK.  495 

Then  came  the  question  of  design,  the  selection 
of  material,  etc.,  and  quarries  had  to  be  visited 
and  inspected  in  order  to  determine  where  the 
most  appropriate  and  durable  stone  could  be 
procured  at  satisfactory  prices,  and  to  enable  the 
committee  to  intelligently  enter  into  the  con 
tracts  for  the  work.  The  position  to  which  the 
regiment  advanced  during  the  charge  at  An- 
tietam,  and  where  the  greatest  loss  of  men 
occurred,  had  to  be  positively  identified,  and  a 
plot  of  the  ground  purchased  --at  many  times 
its  actual  value  -  -  upon  which  to  erect  the 
monument.  The  negotiations  for  right  of  way 
over  adjacent  lands  and  arrangements  for 
compensating  the  owners  for  prospective  dam 
ages  at  an  exhorbitant  rate  had  to  be  completed. 
All  these,  and  many  other  details,  entailed  a 
great  deal  of  work  on  the  committee.  Many 
visits,  both  to  the  Vermont  quarries  and  to  the 
battlefield,  were  absolutely  necessary.  In  addi 
tion,  a  large  amount  of  correspondence  relating 
to  the  work  had  to  be  conducted. 

Notwithstanding  the  careful  and  methodical 
manner  in  which  every  step  in  the  progress 
of  the  work  had  been  taken,  unforeseen  diffi 
culties  frequently  presented  themselves,  and 
annoying  and  vexatious  delays  occurred,  which 
interfered  seriously  with  the  progress  of  the 
undertaking,  so  that  it  was  not  until  Memorial 


496   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Day  of  1897,  that  the  monument  was  erected 
and  ready  for  dedication. 

The  members  of  the  Association  cordially 
approved  of  the  design  the  committee  had 
decided  upon.  They  also  thoroughly  appre 
ciated  the  work  done  in  their  behalf  by  the 
committee,  the  unselfish  interest  with  which 
each  member  of  it  had  devoted  himself  to  the 
work,  and  the  successful  and  gratifying  manner 
in  which  it  had  been  carried  out. 

This  approbation  was  more  especially  due 
and  accorded  to  the  monument  sub-committee, 
Messrs.  Hawkins,  Curie  and  Horner,  who  were 
untiring  in  their  efforts,  and  to  whom  is  largely 
due  the  credit  for  the  final  success  of  the  under 
taking. 

The  same  committee  completed  the  arrange 
ments  for  transportation  to  the  battlefield  and 
return,  which  Avas  ample,  comfortable,  conve 
nient,  and  in  every  way  most  satisfactory. 

On  Friday  evening,  the  28th  of  May,  1897,  a 
well-appointed  special  train  left  Jersey  City  for 
Antietam,  bearing  a  party  of  survivors  of  the 
regiment  and  members  of  their  families,  num 
bering  in  all  eighty  persons.  This  number 
was  increased  at  various  points  on  the  route 
by  other  survivors  from  various  and  distant 
parts  of  the  United  States  until  the  number  of 
veterans  actually  participating  in  the  ceremonies 
was  ninety-one. 


GA  THERED  A  T  THE  DEDICA  TION.  497 

Thus  the  remnant  of  this  gallant  regiment 
returned  after  a  lapse  of  thirty-five  years,  still 
an  organization  and  under  the  presidency  of 
the  man  who  had  been  their  first  and  only 
colonel,  to  dedicate  on  the  bloodiest  battlefield 
of  the  Rebellion,  a  monument  to  their  fallen 
comrades.  Every  participant  in  the  ceremonies,, 
from  orator  to  bugler,  with  the  single  exception 
of  the  daughter  of  a  comrade,  who  unveiled  the 
monument,  was  a  former  member  of  the  Ninth 
New  York  Volunteers. 

When  the  company  had  assembled  at  the 
monument  the  ceremonies  were  begun  by 
Colonel  Hawkins,  the  President  of  the  Associa 
tion,  announcing  as  follows : 

"  No  braver  or  truer  soldier  honored  the 
ranks  of  the  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers  than 
its  chief  musician,  who  holds  a  large  place  in 
the  affections  of  his  comrades." 

"  And  I  now  take  great  pleasure  to  call  up 
'  our  Tom  Flocton,'  who  was  equally  handy 
with  both  bugle  and  musket,  to  use  the  same 
old  bugle  with  which  he  sounded  the  charge 
upon  this  field,  to  sound  out  once  more  upon 
this  historic  ground,  whose  soil  was  drenched 
by  the  blood  of  so  many  of  his  comrades,  the 
'assembly',  once  so  familiar  to  us  and  so  pleas 
ant  to  remember." 

After  the  "assembly  "  had  been  sounded  the 


498    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

President  introduced  Rev.  Joseph  M.  Richards, 
as  one  formerly  a  private  in  Company  F,  of 
the  Ninth,  and  a  good  and  true  soldier  of  the 
Republic,  and  who  had  for  many  years  been 
enlisted  in  another  army,  that  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace.  Mr  Richards  offered  the  following 
prayer : 

"  Our  Father,  Thou  whose  throne  is  in  the 
heavens,  yet  whose  glory  and  majesty  and 
power  is  seen  in  all  things  which  Thou  hast 
created,  and  whose  love  is  realized  and  under 
stood  and  felt,  because  of  the  providences  with 
which  Thou  hast  surrounded  our  being,  we 
come  into  Thy  presence  with  uncovered  heads 
and  bowed  hearts,  glad  that  we  may  acknowl 
edge  Thee  to  be  our  Father ;  and  as  we 
approach  into  Thy  presence  we  come  remem 
bering  not  only  all  the  dangers  and  vicissitudes 
which  once  surrounded  our  lives  in  this  place, 
but  we  come  remembering  too  all  the  mercies 
and  goodnesses  which  have  followed  our 
lives  hitherto.  We  thank  Thee  that  thou  dost 
not  only  permit  us,  but  has  graciously  invited 
us  to  come  to  Thee,  and  not  only  come  to 
Thee,  but  with  prayer  and  supplication  make 
known  our  wants  and  our  requests.  Therefore 
on  this  glad  occasion,  and  at  the  very  threshold 
of  these  services  we  ask  Thy  presence  and  Thy 
blessing  upon  all  the  exercises  of  this  hour, 


COMRADE  RICHARDS  INVOCATION.  499 

upon  all  Thy  servants  here  before  Thee,  and 
upon  all  these  comrades  who  have  met  after 
the  lapse  of  years  in  a  scene  fraught  with  such 
grand  and  far  reaching  significance,  while  its 
surroundings  are  filled  with  the  memories  of  a 
terrible  carnage.  Grant,  our  Father,  that  the 
memories  of  this  hour,  memories  of  marches 
and  battles,  memories  of  deliverances,  memories 
of  comrades  whose  forms  are  scattered  on  this 
once  fearful  battlefield,  may  inspire  us  to  a 
more  heroic  devotion  to  ,Thee,  and  a  more 
faithful  consecration  of  our  lives,  and  a  more 
steadfast  performance  of  our  duties  on  earth. 
Bless,  with  the  blessing  which  Thou  only  can 
bestow,  the  members  of  this  regiment  and 
friends  here  present,  and  while  our  heads  are 
bowed,  and  we  remember  how  many  homes 
were  made  desolate  on  this  battlefield,  we  ask 
too,  thy  blessing  upon  the  widows  and  orphans 
who  yet  remain.  Bless  our  country,  and  grant 
that  justice  and  truth,  unity  and  love,  peace 
and  prosperity  may  abound  throughout  its 
length  and  breadth.  Guard  it  in  the  future  as 
Thou  hast  in  the  past,  and  grant  that  it  may  be 
an  example  to  all  nations.  Cement  us  together 
in  the  bonds  of  peace  ;  make  us  more  and  more 
one  people,  and  may  thy  blessing  be  upon  it 
forever.  And,  our  Father,  when  the  march  of 
our  individual  life  is  halted,  when  the  last 


5OO   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

battle  to  be  fought  is  ended,  and  the  victory 
won,  grant,  we  pray  Thee,  that  we  may  enter 
into  an  eternal  bivouac  in  Thy  Kingdom  above. 
We  ask  it  in  His  name,  who  taught  us  when  we 
prayed  to  say,  *  Our  Father  who  art  in  Heaven, 
hallowed  be  Thy  name;  Thy  Kingdom  come, 
Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  Heaven  ; 
give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread,  and  forgive  us 
our  trespasses  as  we  forgive  those  who  trespass 
against  us;  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but 
deliver  us  from  evil,  for  Thine  is  the  Kingdom, 
and  the  power,  and  the  glory  for  ever  and  ever, 
Amen." 

The  President  then  introduced  Lieutenant 
M.  J.  Graham,  with  the  following  remarks : 

"  It  is  fitting  that  in  the  dedication  of  this 
memorial  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic 
shall  take  part  in  the  ceremony.  And  it  is 
sentimentally  fortunate  and  most  appropriate 
that  we  have  with  us  to-day  an  esteemed  com 
rade  whom  we  all  honor,  and  who  upon  this 
spot  performed  brave  and  honorable  service 
which  made  him  a  cripple  for  the  rest  of  his 
life. 

"  He  is  now  at  the  head  of  a  Grand  Army 
Post,  named  in  honor  of  one  of  our  brave 
lieutenant-colonels,  who  was  killed  while  in  the 
service  of  his  country. 

"  It  is  now  my  pleasurable  duty,  tinged  with 


LIEUTENANT  GRAHAM'S  INTRODUCTION.        5O1 

the  sadness  of  memories  of  far  off  sorrows,  to 
present  Lieutenant  Matthew  J.  Graham,  who 
will  conduct  the  Grand  Army  part  of  the  cere 
monies." 

Lieutenant  Graham's  remarks  were  as  fol 
lows  : 

"  Friends  and  Comrades: — To-day  is  the  festi 
val  of  our  dead.  We  unite  to  honor  the 
memory  of  our  brave  and  our  beloved,  to  en 
rich  and  ennoble  our  lives  by  recalling  a  public 
heroism  and  a  private  worth  that  are  immortal, 
to  encourage,  by  our  solemn  service,  a  more 
zealous  and  stalwart  patriotism.  Festival  of 
our  dead !  Yes,  though  many  eyes  are  clouded 
with  tears,  though  many  hearts  are  heavy  with 
regret,  though  many  lives  are  still  desolate  be 
cause  of  the  father  or  brother,  the  husband  or 
lover  who  did  not  come  back ;  though  every 
grave  which  a  tender  reverence  or  love  adorns 
with  flowers  is  the  shrine  of  a  sorrow  whose 
influence  is  still  potent.  Despite  it  all,  to-day 
is  a  festival — a  festival  of  our  dead.  No  less  a 
festival  because  it  is  full  of  solemnity. 

"  And  now,  as  in  this  silent  camping  ground 
of  our  dead,  with  soldierly  tenderness  and  love, 
we  dedicate  this,  our  monument,  let  us  recall 
those  who  made  their  breasts  a  barricade  be 
tween  our  country  and  its  foes.  Let  us  recall 
their  toils,  their  sufferings,  their  heroism,  their 


502    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

supreme  fidelity  in  camp,  in  prison-pen,  on  the 
battlefield,  and  in  hospital,  that  the  flag  under 
which  they  fought,  and  from  the  shadow  of 
whose  folds  they  were  promoted,  may  never  be 
dishonored ;  that  the  country  for  whose  union 
and  supremacy  they  surrendered  life,  may  have 
the  fervent  and  enthusiastic  devotion  of  every 
citizen ;  that,  as  we  stand  in  this  place  as  before 
an  altar,  we  may  pledge  our  manhood  that,  so 
help  us  God,  the  memory  of  our  dead  shall  en 
courage  and  strengthen  in  us  all  a  more  loyal 
patriotism." 

Colonel  Hawkins'  then  addressed  those  pres 
ent  as  follows : 

"Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  and  Comrades  of  the 
Ninth  New  York: — To  be  permitted  to  express 
upon  this  field  a  greeting  of  welcome  to  the 
surviving  members  of  the  regiment  I  had  the 
honor  to  command  is  the  most  interesting  and 
gratifying  duty  I  have  ever  been  called  upon 
to  perform.  I  share  with  you  all  the  conflicting 
emotions  of  pleasure  and  sadness  which  fill 
our  hearts  as  we  gaze  upon  the  faces  once  so 
familiar  to  us,  and  recall  to  our  minds  the 
many  stirring  scenes  in  the  far  off  past  in  which 
we  participated.  Although  but  a  remnant  of 
the  patriotic  band  remains,  the  old  spirit  sur 
vives. 

"  The  heart-throbs  of  youth  are  weakened  by 


OPENING  ADDRESS  BY  COLONEL  HA  WKINS.      503 

age,  but  the  bond  of  affectionate  comradeship 
is  as  strong  as  ever ;  time  has  not  affected  that, 
and  never  will.  The  chain  forged  upon  battle 
fields  which  binds  together  the  men  of  the 
Ninth  New  York  Volunteers  can  never  be 
broken. 

"This  is  characteristic  and  as  it  should  be ; 
and  now  here,  upon  this  to  us  dearest  spot  on 
earth,  let  us  renew  our  fealty  to  each  other  and 
the  sacred  memories  of  the  past,  which  are  so 
honorably  interwoven  with  out  military  ser 
vices,  and  which  are  the  brightest  jewels  in 
our  earthly  crown.  The  incident  which  has 
brought  us  together  is  only  a  part  of  what  has 
gone  before.  It  is  perfectly  natural  that  we 
should  meet  upon  this  field  appropriately  to 
honor  the  bravery  of  our  companions  who  here 
gave  up  their  lives. 

"  Holding  prominent  place  in  the  earliest 
known  record  of  human  achievements,  we  find 
reference  to  monuments  erected  to  perpetuate 
memories  of  heroic  deeds  and  notable  events 
in  the  history  of  nations.  From  a  most  remote 
period  the  custom  of  monument  building  has 
been  handed  down  to  the  present,  ever  ac 
cumulating  strength  rather  than  diminishing, 
and  to-day  it  may  be  safely  claimed  for  our 
countrymen  that  during  the  last  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  they  have  surpassed  all 


SO 4   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

other  nations  in  the  number  of  memorials  they 
have  erected  to  keep  alive  in  the  hearts  of  the 
generations  to  come  the  thrilling  story  of  the 
heroism  of  those  citizen  soldiers  who  fought 
for  the  preservation  of  a  government,  es 
tablished  for  the  purpose  of  continuing  our 
political  experiment  in  the  interest  of  constitu 
tional  liberty. 

"  It  may  be  said  that  the  culmination,  as  to 
magnitude,  simple  grandeur,  beauty  of  indi 
vidual  examples  and  perfected  artistic  purity, 
was  realized  by  the  Greek  architects  and 
sculptors  who  wrought  during  the  supreme 
Hellenic  period.  The  matchless  proportions 
and  refined  details  of  their  wondrous  concep 
tions  formed  a  fitting  crown  to  a  civilization 
which  fostered  the  cultivation  of  the  heroic  and 
beautiful  as  had  never  been  done  before  or 
since.  The  Greeks  of  that  time,  by  reason  of 
their  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  in  art  and  its 
ennobling  and  refining  influence  upon  their 
nation,  occupy  the  exceptional  position  in  the 
history  of  races  and  peoples  which  no  lapse  of 
time  can  efface. 

"  Running  in  parallel  lines  throughout  the 
history  of  civilization,  we  find  love  of  the  beau 
tiful  and  worship  of  the  heroic  joined  together, 
the  ever-reminding  evidence  of  the  presence  of 
those  higher  and  better  qualities  of  our  imperfect 


COLONEL  HAWKINS  ADDRESS.  BOS 

natures,  which  lift  humanity  to  a  plane  above 
the  commonplace  of  a  merely  material  exist 
ence. 

"  This  companionship  of  the  artistic  with  the 
heroic  has  taught  us  that  the  office  of  the  beau 
tiful  and  noble  in  art  is  to  give  living  and 
enduring  expression  to  the  heroism  of  the 
ages.  Art  is  the  recording  agent  of  great 
deeds.  To  the  hero  worship  within  us  we 
owe  the  incentive  that  inspired  the  illustrious 
masters  of  the  arts  of  all  times — imperishable 
masterpieces  which  have  excited  the  admiration 
of  succeeding  ages  and  kept  alive  in  the  hearts 
of  generations  living  memories  of  man's  great 
est  achievements. 

"  To-day,  in  our  humble  and  imperfect  way, 
we  assist  to  continue  the  beautiful  custom  born 
of  antiquity. 

"The  solemn  and  impressive  magnitude  of  the 
work  before  us  will  attest  for  many  generations 
to  come  the  love  and  respect  a  people  bear 
for  our  brave  comrades  who  nearly  thirty-five 
years  ago  laid  down  their  lives  upon  this 
never  fading  field  of  honor;  not  only  a  field  of 
honor  for  those  who  fell  face  to  the  foe,  but  for 
those  who  fought  shoulder  to  shoulder  with 
them.  Many  have  since  fallen  by  the  way,  but 
those  here  to-day  who  tread  again  this  sacred 
soil  testify  their  love  and  loyalty  for  the  dead 


SO6   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

of  their  regiment,  who  here  gave  their  lives 
for  a  cause  they  had  sworn  to  promote  and 
maintain. 

"  This  simple  memorial,  fashioned  out  of  a 
people's  gratitude  and  placed  by  our  loving 
hands,  will  stand  a  silent  sentinel,  ever  jealously 
watching  over  the  blood-enriched  soil  of  this 
sanguinary  field.  And  although  silent,  yet  a 
living  and  imperishable  record  of  one  of  the 
most  thrilling  pages  in  the  history  of  man's 
sacrifice  for  a  truly  exalted  ideal. 

"  Although  more  than  thirty-four  years  have 
passed  since  the  tragic  event  we  now  com 
memorate,  we  remember  that  awful  day  and 
the  unspeakable  slaughter.  And  we  remember 
too,  that  it  was  unnecessary,  and  our  victory 
brought  no  perceptible  result.  Thrust  unwit 
tingly  forward  to  a  position  of  exceptional 
danger,  face  to  face  with  the  forces  of  armed 
rebellion  greatly  outnumbering  an  already 
depleted  command,  unsustained  by  adequate 
supporting  force,  our  devoted  regiment  encoun 
tered  almost  alone  the  concentrated  fire  of 
superior  numbers,  which  nearly  annihilated  its 
thinned  ranks,  until  there  was  left  but  a  rem 
nant  to  tell  the  tale  of  horror  through  which  it 
had  passed.  This  was  but  one  link  in  the 
chain  that  dragged  through  years  of  needless 
slaughter;  one  of  the  results  that  marked  the 


RETROSPECTION.  5O7 

unnecessarily  slow  progress  of  a  merciless  war. 

"  In  history,  Antietam  stands  for  our  most 
sanguinary  and  earnestly  contested  single  day's 
battle,  and  was  attended  with  the  largest  pro 
portion  of  fatalities.  Like  many  battles  of  our 
Civil  War,  it  was  fought  without  preconceived 
plan  or  definite  aim,  and  ended  barren  of  the 
hard-earned  results  which,  if  garnered,  might 
have  finished  the  war.  At  best  it  was  a  con 
test  of  accidents,  fought  in  detached  patches, 
without  cohesion  of  lines,  at  different  hours  of 
the  day,  when  subordinate  officers  and  the 
rank  and  file  made  immortal  records,  seldom 
equaled  and  never  surpassed.  It  was  not  the 
fault  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  that  its  com 
mander  failed  to  perceive  or  to  take  advantage 
of  the  victory  his  command  had  thrust  upon 
him. 

"  Under  the  circumstances  then  existing,  to 
permit  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia  to  recross 
the  Potomac  was  an  unpardonable  neglect.  It 
amounted  in  its  results  to  a  crime  against  a 
patriotic  people  whose  blind  confidence  in  in 
competent  leaders  was  only  equaled  by  their 
ignorance  of  military  affairs.  The  capture  of 
any  considerable  part  of  the  Confederate  Army 
at  that  time  would  have  placed  Richmond  at 
the  mercy  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Then 
the  end  of  the  war  would  have  been  a  matter  of 


SOS   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

months  instead  of  years.  The  incidents  we 
now  recall  are  beyond  correction.  They  have 
passed  into  the  boundless  province  of  history, 
and  we  can  only  say,  'Let  the  dead  bury  the 
dead.' 

"  While  never  forgetting  the  great  sorrow 
which  came  to  us  with  the  reopened  knowl 
edge  of  our  mighty  sacrifice,  we  must  consider 
the  patriotic  cause  for  which  it  was  made  and 
not  hold  ourselves  responsible  for  the  outward 
misfortunes  of  war. 

"  Now,  however,  more  than  a  third  of  a  cen 
tury  after  Antietam  was  fought,  consolation  has 
come  to  their  companions  who  survive.  We 
have  witnessed  how  sincerely  they  who  fell 
were  mourned.  We  know  what  they  did  is 
gratefully  appreciated,  and  are  sure  that  the 
future  will  not  forget  their  heroic  deeds. 

"  In  all  ages  the  luster  which  gathers  around 
the  memories  of  those  who  fall  upon  the  field 
of  battle  stands  out  from  the  accumulating 
mists  of  time  as  the  great  signal  stations  in  the 
histories  of  nations,  emphasizing  the  ever-pres 
ent  heroic  attributes  of  the  human  race.  And 
so  it  is  with  those  whose  heroism  we  honor  to 
day.  They  have  joined  that  silent  and  cease 
less  procession  which  leads  to  immortality." 

When  the  hearty  applause  which  greeted 
these  remarks  had  ceased,  Colonel  Hawkins 


UNVEILING  THE  MONUMENT.  6O9 

announced  that  the  time  for  unveiling  the 
monument  had  arrived.  In  introducing  Miss 
Lillian  Elsie  Horner,  to  whom  the  honor  of  re 
moving  the  flag  had  been  assigned,  he  said : 

"For  this  occasion  we  are  compelled  to  call 
upon  one  of  the  second  generation  to  assist  in 
our  dedicating  ceremonies.  We  have  with  us 
the  daughter  of  one  of  our  most  affectionately 
esteemed  comrades.  As  a  non-commissioned 
officer,  he  came  within  a  half  of  a  mile  of  being 
in  the  first  battle  of  the  rebellion,  and  as  major 
of  a  regiment  was  in  the  last  fight  on  Southern 
soil.  Not  content  with  serving  his  full  term  in 
the  Ninth  and  being  mustered  out  as  an  officer 
covered  with  honor,  he  again  entered  the  ser 
vice  of  his  country  and  in  time  became  the 
major  of  the  iyth  New  York  Veteran  Volun 
teer  Infantry. 

"  I  am  sure  we  are  all  happy  to  have  him 
with  us  upon  this  almost  sacred  occasion. 
Hale,  hardy,  vigorous,  and,  if  need  be,  quite 
as  full  of  fight  as  ever.  I  now  take  great  pleas 
ure  in  presenting  Miss  Lillian  Horner,  the 
daughter  of  Maj.  James  B.  Horner,  and  call 
upon  her  to  uncover  this  monument." 

Miss  Horner  wore  a  costume  which  was  both 
unique  and  beautiful  in  effect,  being  fashioned 
out  of  the  National  .flag,  and  as  she  stepped 
forward  to  perform  her  part  in  the  ceremony, 


S1O  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

her  appearance  was  so  graceful  and  striking 
that  it  brought  forth  rapturous  applause  from 
the  assemblage.  Seizing  the  cords  which  con 
trolled  the  covering  of  the  monument,  she  said: 

"To  the   memory  of  the  brave  men   of  the 

Ninth  New  York  Infantry — Hawkins'  Zouaves 

—who  fought  upon  this  field,  and  especially  to 

those  who  died  here  that  their  country  might 

live,  we  now  dedicate  this  monument." 

The  flags  were  removed,  the  act  being  ac 
companied  with  the  applause  of  the  assembled 
veterans,  and  the  monument  was  disclosed  in 
all  its  beauty,  simplicity  and  stateliness.  It  is 
of  Barre,  Vt,  granite,  in  four  pieces,  of  simple 
design  and  imposing  dimensions,  and  of  suffi 
cient  proportionate  breadth  for  its  height  of 
fifty-two  feet.  It  consists  of  a  monolith  on  an 
admirably  proportioned  die  and  base.  The 
monolith  is  forty  feet  long,  tapering  from  four 
and  a  half  feet  at  the  base  to  three  and  a  half 
feet  at  the  top,  and  said  to  be  the  largest  single 
block  of  granite  ever  quarried  at  Barre.  On 
each  panel  of  the  die  is  an  inscription.  On  the 
first,  under  the  words  "Toujours  Pret,"  the 
motto  of  the  regiment,  appears,  "Erected  by 
the  State  of  New  York  to  the  memory  of  the 
Ninth  New  York  Infantry  (Hawkins'  Zouaves) 
who  fought  on  this  field  September  iyth,  1862." 

The  others  are: 


THE  MONUMENT.  5  1  1 


"  About  2  P.  M.,  having  forded  Antietam 
Creek,  the  regiment,  meeting  with  desperate 
resistance,  advanced  to  this  position  and  held 
it  until  ordered  elsewhere." 

"  The  greatest  mortality  occurred  near  this 
position,  where  the  regiment  contended  with  a 
superior  force  of  infantry  and  artillery." 

"  Members  present  for  duty  in  action,  373; 
killed,  54;  wounded,  158;  missing,  28.  Total 
loss,  240.  Two  companies  were  detailed  and 
engaged  elsewhere  and  did  not  participate  in 
the  advance." 

The  President,  Colonel  Hawkins,  introduced 
the  orator  of  the  day,  as  follows: 

"  Among  the  younger  of  those  who  enlisted 
in  our  regiment,  and  performed  good  service, 
was  one  who  has  lived  to  arrive  at  a  mature 
estate  and  now  holds  an  honorable  position 
among  his  fellowmen.  He  was  of  those  who 
though  younger  than  the  law  required  for  mili 
tary  service,  could  not  be  held  back  from  the 
carrying  out  of  a  determined  patriotic  purpose. 
Law  or  no  law,  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  go 
into  the  army  and  fight  for  his  country. 

"This  boy-soldier  was  destined  to  survive  and 
to  become  a  soldier  in  another  and  a  greater 
army,  where  he  could  exercise  a  wider  field  for 
the  benefit  of  his  kind. 

"He  is  known  as  the  Reverend  Clark  Wright, 


512    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  I  now 
take  great  pleasure  in  presenting  him  to  you  as 
the  orator  of  the  day." 

After  receiving  a  flattering  greeting  from  his 
old  comrades,  the  Reverend  ex-Zouave  spoke 
as  follows : 

"  Comrades  of  the  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers, 
'  Hawkins'  Zouaves  : ' 

" Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — On  this  battlefield 
the  heroic  deeds  of  the  honored  sons  of  the 
Empire  State  greet  you !  We  gather  to  mark 
the  spot  where  they  fell,  and  dedicate  this 
monument  that  shall  tell  to  future  generations 
the  heroism,  fidelity  and  courage  of  the  faithful 
soldiers  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

"  The  greatest  mortality  in  one  day,  of  all  the 
battles  that  have  been  fought  in  the  New  World, 
transpired  on  this  battlefield  thirty-four  years 
ago.  During  the  war  of  1861  to  1865  there 
were  112  battles  fought,  where  the  mortality 
exceeded  500,  but  here,  on  this,  the  bloodiest 
battlefield  of  the  war,  the  combined  loss  of  both 
armies  was  nearly  25,000  men. 

"  We  come  to-day,  not  to  glorify  ourselves 
nor  to  depreciate  the  brave  men  who  met  us  on 
this  sanguinary  field,  but  are  here  to  speak  in 
behalf  of  the  men  who,  coming  from  their 
peaceful  homes  in  our  native  State,  willingly 
sacrificed  their  lives  that  the  Union  might  be 


OR  A  TION  OF  RE  V.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  5  1  3 

unimpaired,  that  our  flag  should  float  unsullied, 
without  one  star  dimmed,  and  the  Republic 
continue  to  live  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

"We  gather  to  do  honor  to  those  whose 
blood  flowed  freely  on  this  spot,  while  these 
hills  around  us  were  the  last  scene  their  eyes 
beheld  ere  they  closed  in  death.  We  come  to 
speak  for  those  whose  lips  are  silent,  and  tell 
the  present  generation  of  deeds  performed  by 
them,  equaling  in  heroism  and  devotion  Mara 
thon  or  Thermopylae,  Horatious  at  the  Bridge, 
or  the  old  Guard  at  Waterloo.  We  come  to 
speak  of  the  American  soldier  at  Antietam. 

"Some  things  never  die.  They  live  on  in 
enduring  immortality  while  the  sun  continues 
to  shine  and  the  earth  revolves  in  its  orbit. 
The  good  men  do;  the  self-sacrifice,  devotion 
to  duty,  consecration  to  a  patriotic  work  will 
live  as  the  story  of  heroism  and  fidelity  is 
repeated  from  one  generation  to  another,  and 
will  be  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  the 
fallen  heroes,  more  enduring  than  this  beau 
tiful  monolith  of  granite,  or  the  bronze  tablet 
upon  which  their  names  are  inscribed.  And 
while  we,  their  comrades,  who  knew  them  so 
well,  who  stood  by  their  side  on  this  and  other 
battlefields,  are  here  with  the  accredited  repre 
sentatives  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  who  erected  this  memorial  to  mark 


514   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

the  spot  on  this  bloody  battlefield  where  'they 
fell,  let  us  rejoice  that  their  memory  has 
a  more  enduring  monument  in  the  Republic 
that  lives,  in  the  Union  unbroken,  in  the  starry 
flag  without  stain  upon  its  escutcheon,  which 
their  heroic  acts  and  vicarious  death  perpetu 
ated,  as  we  remember,  their  deeds  will  be 
forever  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  their  country 
men. 

"With  gentle  tread  and  bated  breath  we 
come  to  look  upon  the  scene  around  us,  for 
we  know  we  are  on  holy  ground,  reverently, 
devoutly,  we  stand  here  in  the  midst  of  this, 
the  nation's  holy  of  holies,  a  place  consecrated 
as  no  human  lips  can  consecrate  the  earth,  as 
no  waters  scattered  by  the  hand  of  man  can 
hallow  the  soil,  for  it  was  here  on  this  spot  the 
last  prayer,  the  last  sign,  the  last  breath,  the 
last  drop  of  blood  came  from  the  patriot's  heart 
making  this  place  forever  sacred,  as  his  life- 
blood  baptized  the  ground  with  a  baptism  that 
shall  forever  regenerate  the  nation,  banishing 
disunion  and  sectional  strife,  and  exalting  the 
American  Republic  to  the  highest  pinnacle  of 
greatness  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

"  Any  words  poor  human  lips  can  utter  can 
not  add  to  the  sanctity  nor  enhance  the  record 
of  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  brave  men  who, 
coming  from  their  peaceful  homes  in  New 


OR  A  TION  OF  RE  V.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  5 1 S 

York,  paid  the  greatest  price  mankind  can  pay, 
even  the  last  drop  of  blood  in  their  bodies,  that 
future  generations  might  enjoy  the  freedom 
and  happiness  found  on  the  broad  domain  of 
this  fair  land  and  protection  wherever  its  starry 
flag  may  wave. 

"  Who  were  these  men  ?  Nearly  all  the  men 
composing  our  regiment  were  graduates  of  the 
public  school,  of  all  trades  and  professions, 
averaging  twenty-one  years  of  age.  In  the 
ranks  were  those  who  could  build  a  locomotive, 
edit  a  newspaper,  survey  the  land,  pilot  a 
steamship  across  the  ocean,  conduct  a  case  at 
law,  preach  a  sermon,  direct  a  commercial 
house  or  command  a  regiment.  Men  of  intel 
lectual  power,  brave  as  the  bravest,  gentle  as 
women ;  men  who  could  treat  the  enemy  with 
clemency  in  the  day  of  victory,  manifest  mag 
nanimity  in  the  hour  of  power,  who  could 
philosophize  and  find  encouragement  amid 
dark  reverses;  who  decked  manhood  and 
truth  with  a  halo,  patriotism  and  martyrdom 
with  a  glory  that  can  never  fade,  and  a  self- 
sacrificing  devotion  that  causes  the  whole 
world  who  know  their  story  to  exclaim:  'These 
died,  not  for  themselves,  but  for  their  country!' 
They  had  no  old  world  aristocratic  lineage 
traced  through  effeminate  dukes,  counts,  or 
lords,  but  far  nobler,  they  were  American 


516   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

citizens  who,  with  face  to  the  foe  and  breast 
exposed  to  the  deathful  fire  of  a  determined 
enemy,  stood  for  the  right  as  God  showed  them 
the  right,  in  defense  of  home,  freedom,  and 
native  land,  until  all  who  saw  the  heroism 
displayed  on  this  spot  rise  and  place  a  chaplet 
of  fame  and  glory  upon  the  grave  of  these  true 
sons  of  New  York,  and  write  their  epitaph  in 
a  word  that  means  more  than  star  or  garter, 
ribbon  or  decoration,  as  we,  their  comrades, 
inscribe  upon  the  tablet  that  marks  their  rest 
ing  place  the  words  :  *  These  were  men  ;  men 
who  were  true  to  God,  their  duty  and  their 
sacred  honor.'  This  is  the  character  of  those 
who  fought  in  the  ranks  of  the  Ninth  New 
York,  Hawkins'  Zouaves,  on  this  spot,  more 
than  thirty-four  years  ago. 

"  How  different  our  surroundings  to-day 
from  that  of  September  17,  1862.  To-day  the 
birds  sing  sweetly  in  the  tops  of  the  trees  that 
in  other  days  were  mutilated  by  shot  and  shell. 
The  husbandman  peacefully  reaps  the  fruit  of 
the  soil  while  the  children  sit  quietly  at  our 
feet  and  listen  to  our  story  of  the  battle  of 
Antietam. 

"  Let  us  briefly  ^recall  some  of  the  scenes  that 
crowded  these  fields  with  the  troops  of  two 
hostile  armies. 

"  General  McClellan,  in  his  official  report  of 


ORATION  OF  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  517 

Antietam,  states:  '  Nearly  200,000  men  were  for 
fourteen  hours  engaged  in  combat.'  The  Offi 
cial  Record  states  that  General  McClellan's 
army  was  composed  of  the  following : 

ist  Corps,  .         .         .          14,856 

2d  Corps,  .                  .     18,803 

5th  Corps,  .         .          12,930* 

6th  Corps,  .         .         .      12,300 

9th  Corps,  .         .          13,819 

1 2th  Corps,  .         .         .10,126 

Cavalry  Division,         .  4,320 

Total,  .         .                               87,154 

"  There  is  a  great  diversity  in  the  figures 
of  the  enemy  concerning  the  actual  number  of 
troops  they  had  on  this  field ;  some  place  their 
number  as  high  as  97,000,  others  as  low  as 
70,000  troops.  The  best  Confederate  writers, 
however,  declare  they  had  about  75,000  men, 
making  a  total  of  162,000  in  the  combined 
armies.  The  distance  from  the  right  to  the 
left  of  each  wing  of  the  army  was  about  four 
miles  as  the  bird  flies,  but  because  of  the  irreg 
ularity  of  the  ground  the  actual  distance  was 
greater. 

"The  right  wing  of  the  Union  Army  was 
near  Keedysville,  General  McClellan's  head 
quarters  being  about  a  mile  south  of  that  place. 

*Although  only  8,500  men  of  this  corps  were  actually  engaged. 


518    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS, 

The  extreme  left  wing,  under  command  of 
Gen.  A.  E.  Burnside,  was  south  of  what  history 
designates  as  Burnside's  Bridge.  General  Lee 
had  his  headquarters  near  Sharpsburgh,  very 
near  where  we  are  now  assembled.  Here  the 
two  armies  met,  and  General  Longstreet  sums 
up  the  result  of  this  battle  when  he  says:  'At 
Antietam  was  split  the  keystone  of  the  arch  on 
which  the  Confederate  cause  rested.' 

"Our  interests  at  this  hour  are  associated 
with  the  gth  Army  Corps,  whose  dead  lie 
buried  in  seven  States  of  the  South,  and  whose 
banners  are  inscribed  with  battle  after  battle, 
from  Roanoke  Island  to  the  Fall  of  Peters- 
burgh.  It  was  commanded  most  of  the  time 
by  the  chivalrous  Christian  gentleman  and  de 
voted  soldier,  Gen.  Ambrose  E.  Burnside.  At 
Antietam,  however,  General  Cox  commanded 
the  gth  Corps,  Burnside  being  in  command  of 
the  left  wing  of  the  army,  General  Rodman 
commanded  our  division,  and  Colonel  Fair- 
child  the  brigade  that  occupied  this  particular 
part  of  the  battlefield  thirty-four  years  ago. 

"The  objective  point  of  the  engagement  at 
this  part  of  the  field  was  to  drive  the  enemy 
from  their  guns,  capture  their  position,  and 
cause  them  to  retreat  across  the  Potomac ;  this 
was  the  object,  and  Hawkins'  Zouaves  were 
ordered  to  lead  in  the  charge  south  of  the 


OR  A  TION  OF  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  819 

bridge,  expecting  the  troops  of  the  left  wing 
of  the  Union  Army  would  be  ready  to  support 
them  in  the  desperate  undertaking.  But,  sup 
ported  or  not,  their  duty  was  to  advance,  and 
forward  they  went. 

"Up  to  this  time  this  continent  had  not  seen 
a  battle  like  this  about  to  take  place,  which 
Horace  Greeley  characterizes  (2d  Vol.,  page 
2 1 1 )  as  the  '  bloodiest  day  America  ever  saw/ 

"Of  the  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
eighty-two  general  engagements,  battles,  or 
affairs  in  which  at  least  one  regiment  was 
engaged,  Colonel  Fox  states  in  his  book  of 
regimental  losses  that,  while  Gettysburg  was 
the  greatest,  Antietam  was  the  bloodiest,  and 
tells  us  more  men  were  killed  on  that  one 
day  than  any  other  one  day  of  the  war. 

"That  September  morning  the  sun  looked 
down  upon  the  flower  of  the  best  manhood  this 
country  had  produced,  young  men  from  north 
and  south  in  the  bloom  of  health  and  strength. 
The  choicest  and  best  material  were  in  both 
armies — volunteers  in  the  highest  sense,  be 
cause  up  to  this  time  enlistments  were  vol 
untary,  and  drafts,  force  or  financial  induce 
ments  to  obtain  men  were  comparatively  un 
known. 

"  Our  comrades  of  other  regiments  who  per 
formed  valorous  deeds  on  this  field  will  not 


520   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

charge  us  with  discourtesy  or  neglect  of  their 
faithful  efforts  if  we  turn  to  the  consideration  of 
the  work  performed  and  triumph  achieved  by 
the  regiment  whose  monument  we  here  ded 
icate,  the  Ninth  New  York,  Hawkins'  Zouaves 
of  Hawkins'  Brigade  (in  temporary  command 
of  Colonel  Fairchild)  Rodman's  Division,  gib. 
Army  Corps. 

"  Before  Fort  Sumter  had  been  fired  upon 
the  nucleus  of  this  regiment,  composed  of 
gentlemen  living  in  the  city  of  New  York,  had 
formed  an  organization,  and  immediately  upon 
the  publication  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  first 
proclamation  calling  for  75,000  troops  in  de 
fense  of  the  country,  Col.  Rush  C.  Hawkins 
tendered  to  the  Government  a  regiment  that 
became  in  after  years  conspicuous  and  hon 
orably  known  as  *  Hawkins'  Zouaves.' 

"I  will  not  recount  the  details  of  the  or 
ganization  of  the  regiment,  the  presentation 
of  colors  on  the  Fifth  Avenue  by  Dr.  Gard 
ner  Spring,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the 
departure  for  the  seat  of  war,  the  days  spent  in 
camp  at  Newport  News  and  Fortress  Monroe, 
nor  relate  the  story  of  the  battles  of  Big  Bethel, 
Hatteras,  the  bayonet  charge  of  Roanoke 
Island,  a  similar  one  at  Camden,  North  Car 
olina,  nor  the  story  of  Plymouth,  Winton, 
Fredericksburgh  and  Suffolk,  and  other  engage- 


ORATION  O*  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  521 

ments  through  which  we  passed,  but  turn 
our  attention  directly  to  the  scenes  preceding 
the  battle  of  Antietam,  and  the  work  performed 
on  this  field  September  lyth,  1862.  To  do 
this,  let  us  go  back  a  few  days  before  that 
battle.  On  the  yth  of  September,  Col.  Rush 
C.  Hawkins,  to  whom  we  all  owe  a  debt  of 
gratitude,  the  beloved  commander  of  the  reg 
iment,  transferred  the  command  to  the  heroic 
Lieut-Col.  E.  A.  Kimball,  and  in  obedience  to 
imperative  duty,  regretfully  took  his  temporary 
departure.  The  regiment  encamped  that  night 
at  Meridian  Hill,  remaining  there  until  three 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  gth,  when,  after  a 
march  of  twelve  miles,  it  rested  near  Brook- 
ville.  Starting  again,  it  arrived  near  Layton- 
ville  at  ten  o'clock  the  same  night.  Next 
day  it  was  again  on  the  march,  passing  Damas 
cus  and  Ridgeville,  and  camping  south  of  the 
latter  place ;  and,  although  it  rained  hard  all 
night  the  tired  men  lay  down  on  the  ground 
and  slept  soundly.  On  the  I2th  it  passed  the 
town  of  New  Market,  meeting  only  the  slight 
resistance  offered  by  a  few  shots  from  the 
enemies'  guns  near  the  Monocacy  Ridge.  Gen 
eral  Rodman's  division  ascended  the  Ridge 
and  came  near  the  city  of  Frederick,  where 
they  remained  all  night.  The  i8th  was  occu 
pied  in  supporting  Rushes'  Lancers,  who  were 


522   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

pressing  the  videttes  and  rear  guard  of  the 
enemy.  Reaching  Jeffersonville,  where  a  cor 
dial  welcome  was  accorded  the  regiment  by 
the  inhabitants,  it  returned  the  same  night  to 
Frederick,  which  proved  a  night  of  uproar 
and  excitement  caused  by  a  fire  in  the  town. 
At  three  o'clock  the  next  morning  up  again, 
like  a  hound  after  the  prey,  arrived  at  Mid- 
dletown  at  ten  o'clock  the  same  morning, 
where,  after  eating  the  little  that  remained  of 
the  rations,  pushed  on  in  the  direction  of  the 
battle  of  South  Mountain,  fording  a  small 
stream  at  the  foot  of  South  Mountain,  and 
up  the  precipitous  sides  of  the  stony  slope, 
reaching  the  battlefield  of  South  Mountain 
about  five  o'clock,  where  the  regiment  was 
placed  to  support  a  battery  on  the  left  of  the 
line.  After  ^dark  the  regiment  was  ordered  on 
picket  duty,  guarding  the  extreme  left  of  the 
army.  An  incessant  firing  was  kept  up  be 
tween  General  Reno's  command  and  the  enemy. 
It  was  here  our  old  friend,  whose  acquaintance 
the  regiment  first  formed  at  Roanoke  Island, 
met  his  death.  An  excellent  soldier,  a  devoted 
patriot,  a  man  of  sterling  character  and  noble 
qualities — the  regiment  realized  we  all  lost  a 
personal  friend  in  the  death  of  Maj.-Gen. 
Jesse  L.  Reno. 

"  The  brunt  of  the  battle  of  South  Mountain 


ORATION  OF  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  623 

was  fought  by  the  2nd  and  Qth  Corps,  and  con 
tinued  until  nine  o'clock,  when  the  firing  ceased 
and  the  quietness  was  unbroken.  Awakening 
next  morning  the  regiment  found  there  was 
no  breakfast,  as  the  supply  train  had  gone  in 
the  wrong  direction.  After  foraging,  some 
green  corn  was  secured  in  the  adjacent  fields. 
Food  or  no  food  the  boys  were  in  hot  pursuit 
of  the  enemy,  and  the  hungry  regiment  pressed 
forward,  crossing  Little  Antietam  Creek  near 
Keedysville,  passing  Locust  Springs,  coming 
to  the  foot  of  Red  Hill,  where,  weary  and  sup- 
perless,  all  lay  down  to  rest.  Next  morning 
the  supply  train  had  not  yet  arrived,  and  the 
regiment  was  shelled  by  the  enemy  just  at  a 
time  when  hard-tack  was  needed  more  than 
hard  shells.  During  the  day,  however,  pro 
visions  were  obtained,  and  the  regiment  was 
directed  by  General  Rodman  to  take  position 
on  the  extreme  left  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac.  A  cornfield  close  to  the  enemy  was  that 
night  the  scene  of  the  bivouac.  Company  C 
was  ordered  on  picket,  the  balance  of  the  regi 
ment  getting  such  rest  as  circumstances  per 
mitted  before  the  terrible,  eventful  scenes  of 
the  morrow  ;  for,  as  the  sequel  proved,  this  was 
the  last  camp  ground,  the  last  earthly  comrade 
ship,  the  last  night  many  of  these  heroic  souls 
who  had  marched,  toiled,  suffered  and  fought 


524   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

with  us,  were  to  have,  e're  they  yielded  their 
life  in  defense  of  Liberty,  Union  and  Truth. 

"  Let  us  briefly  glance  back  at  the  night  scene 
of  September  i6th,  1862 :  Near  Antietam 
creek,  amid  dense  darkness  where,  because  of 
the  immediate  proximity  of  the  enemy,  absolute 
silence  was  a  necessity,  the  quietness  inter 
rupted  only  by  the  bubbling  Antietam  Creek, 
that  flowed  on  its  way  then  as  now,  the  other 
regiments  of  our  brigade,  the  8gth  and  io3d 
New  York,  also  lay  quietly  at  rest.  On  the 
opposite  banks  the  enemy  were  industriously 
engaged  placing  batteries  in  position.  No 
glimmer  of  moonlight  nor  twinkling  stars  to 
cheer  the  eye  of  those  who,  lying  in  the  mud  of 
that  cornfield,  thought  of  home,  mother,  and 
loved  ones  e're  they  closed  their  eyes  in  sleep, 
while  the  sky  was  veiled  by  clouds  as  the 
Angel  of  Death  was  spreading  her  wings  over 
the  camp  e're  she  should  take  one  and  another 
of  that  quiet  host  to  herself  on  the  morrow. 

"  Could  the  mothers  of  New  York  have  vis 
ited  this  field  that  night,  knowing  what  the 
morrow  would  bring,  the  heads  of  the  soldiers 
would  not  have  lain  on  the  ground ;  they 
would  have  taken  their  boys  upon  their  breasts 
and  pillowed  them  upon  mother's  heart;  and 
though  we  know  our  mothers  cherished  us 
better  than  their  own  heart's  blood,  they  would 


ORATION  OF  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  525 

have  told  each  to  be  faithful  in  the  performance 
of  duty;  for  our  mothers  of  New  York  gave 
their  boys  to  their  country  and  her  God,  with  a 
realizing  sense  of  the  desolateness  of  heart  and 
loneliness  of  home  that  was  to  follow  their 
great  sacrifice  in  their  pilgrimage  through  life. 

"  God  bless  the  mothers  of  our  sacred  dead 
who  gave  their  boys  to  die  in  defense  of  our 
country ! 

"  We  cannot  bring  their  sons  back  to  life,  but 
we  are  here  to  affectionately  honor  their  mem 
ory  and  perpetuate  their  record,  while  we 
cherish  in  loving  remembrance  the  parents  who 
laid  their  choicest  treasures  upon  the  altar  of 
their  country. 

"With  the  first  gray  tint  of  morning  our 
regiment  was  awakened  by  the  shells  from  a 
six-gun  battery  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
creek.  The  shells  were  falling  fast,  and  here 
Louis  Fuco,  of  Company  F,  picked  up  a  twelve- 
pound  fuse  shell,  that  fell  under  Colonel  Kim- 
ball's  horse,  and  threw  it  down  the  embank 
ment  where  it  exploded.  A  change  of  position 
was  ordered  further  to  the  left,  and  later  our 
own  aggressive  battery  in  charge  of  our  boys 
of  Company  K  did  excellent  service,  and 
ultimately  succeeded  in  silencing  the  early 
morning  disturbers  of  the  peace.  Throughout 
the  entire  day  Company  K  did  efficient  ser- 


NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

vice  and  magnificent  work  wherever  they  were 
placed  with  the  battery  of  the  regiment. 

"  On  the  extreme  right  of  the  Confederate 
Army,  facing  our  extreme  left,  General  Long- 
street  had  concentrated  several  batteries  of 
artillery,  and  here,  near  the  cemetery  and  to 
the  right  and  left  of  Sharpsburgh,  artillery  was 
placed,  whose  range  extended  down  the  sur 
rounding  slopes  toward  Antietam  Creek. 

"  The  official  record  of  the  War  Department 
of  Union  and  Confederate  Armies  (Series  I, 
Vol.  19)  says:  'It  is  very  evident  the  critical 
hour  with  the  Confederate  right  wing  was 
about  4  o'clock  P.M.,  on  the  lyth,'  which  was  the 
time  of  the  final  charge. 

"  General  S.  D.  Lee,  Commander-in-Chief  of 
Artillery  of  Longstreet's  Division,  says  (page 
846  of  above  column)  :  '  He  had  centered  his 
artillery  at  Sharpsburgh  village,  and  the  im 
mediate  vicinity '  and  names  the  following  bat 
teries  present  at  that  point:  'Miller's,  Parkes', 
Moody's,  Jordan's,  Richardson's,  Norman's, 
Rhett's,  Carter's,  Squire's,  Mclntosh's,  and  Eu- 
bank's  batteries.'  These  are  referred  to  by 
General  Toombs  also,  who  commanded  in 
fantry  before  Sharpsburgh,  and  others,  as  doing 
effective  service  for  the  Confederates  between 
3  and  4  P.M'.  on  the  iyth.  According  to  the 
Confederate  reports,  the  smallest  number  of 


ORATION  OF  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  527 

guns  any  of  these  batteries  contained  was  four, 
most  of  them  had  six  guns.  Supporting  this 
.artillery  were  troops  from  Georgia,  Virginia, 
North  and  South  Carolina.  It  would  appear 
as  though  General  R.  E.  Lee,  realizing  the 
critical  situation  of  this  part  of  the  battlefield, 
fixed  his  headquarters  at  the  village  of  Sharps- 
burgh,  where  this  particular  locality  would  be 
under  his  immediate  supervision.  The  battle 
raged  during  the  morning  all  along  the  line, 
but  before  the  enemy  could  be  whipped  and 
made  to  retreat  across  the  Potomac,  this  posi 
tion  must  be  captured  and  the  enemy  driven 
from  their  guns. 

"General  Burnside  directed  General  Rod 
man,  Commander  3rd  Division,  gth  Army 
Corps,  to  drive  the  enemy  from  their  position 
on  the  west  side  of  Antietam  Creek;  and  our 
brigade  composed  of  the  Sgth,  iO3d,  and  gth 
regiments,  all  troops  of  New  York,  were  or 
dered  to  advance  upon  the  enemy.  Major 
Jardine,  of  our  regiment,  had  been  placed  tem 
porarily  in  command  of  the  8gth  New  York, 
and  with  the  iO3d,  did  valiant  service,  but  be 
cause  of  the  rough  and  uneven  nature  of  the 
ground,  or  other  reasons,  these  regiments  did 
not  keep  alignment  with  Hawkins'  Zouaves  in 
the  final  charge  that  drove  the  enemy  from 
their  guns,  so  that  the  last  bloody  charge  at 


528   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

the  stone  wall  was  was  made  practically  alone 
by  the  Ninth  Regiment.  Sometime  after  two 
P.M.,  the  regiment  forded  Antietam  Creek,  a 
short  distance  below  the  Burnside  Bridge,  re 
ceiving  the  fire  from  the  enemy  on  the  oppo 
site  side. 

"  Sergeant  Johnson  of  our  regiment,  whose 
two  brothers  were  killed  in  this  battle,  says  : 
1  We  were  ordered  to  form  line  and  advance. 
The  hill  that  stood  in  our  front  was  the  one 
from  which  the  rebels  opened  on  us  in  the 
morning.  As  we  advanced  the  enemy  retreated 
to  a  hill  beyond.  We  lay  for  about  half  an 
hour  on  this  hill,  all  the  while  receiving  the 
rebel  fire.' 

"  Lieut.  M.  J.  Graham,  while  gallantly  lead 
ing  his  company,  lost  his  leg  in  this  battle. 
He  writes:  '  The  practice  of  the  rebel  artillery 
men  was  wonderful  in  its  accuracy.  They 
dropped  shot  and  shell  into  our  lines  repeat 
edly.  They  kept  the  air  filled  with  missils  of 
of  every  variety,  from  schrapnel  to  railroad 
iron.  The  schrapnel  and  cannister  were  very 
much  in  evidence.  I  saw  one  of  our  men  in 
the  hospital  afterward  —  Jas.  H.  Brainard,  of 
Company  D,  who  had  nine  wounds  in  his  right 
arm.  I  watched  solid  shot  and  round  shot 
strike  the  ground  with  what  sounded  like  an 
innocent  thud,  and  bounding  over  battery  and 


ORATION  OF  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  529' 

park,  fly  through  the  tree  tops,  cutting  them 
off  so  suddenly  it  seemed  to  me  they  lingered 
undecided  which  way  to  fall.  I  was  lying  on 
my  back,  watching  the  shells  explode  overhead,, 
and  speculating  how  long  I  could  hold  up  my 
finger  before  it  would  be  shot  off  (for  the  air 
seemed  full  of  bullets)  when  the  order  was 
given  to  advance.'  Concerning  the  charge 
Lieutenant  Graham  says : 

" '  I  could  see  the  line  of  the  regiment  short 
ening  as  we  advanced.  We  could  hear  the 
crash  of  missiles  through  the  ranks,  and,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  the  sound  brought  like  a  flash 
to  my  mind  a  saying  of  Lannes'  when  describ 
ing  the  battle  of  Austerlitz:  "I  could  hear  the 
bones  crash  in  my  division  like  glass  in  a  hail 
storm."  ' 

"This  is  the  testimony  and  recollection  of 
two  of  our  faithful  comrades  of  the  scenes  of 
that  eventful  day. 

"Let  us  return  to  our  narrative. 

"All  day  long  death  was  reaping  a  terrible 
harvest  amid  these  hills  and  dales,  thirty-four 
years  ago.  The  shells  from  the  enemy's  guns, 
on  the  early  morning  of  the  iyth  of  September, 
resulted  in  the  loss  of  twelve  men  of  the  regi 
ment,  wounded,  and  before  these  guns  ceased 
their  immediate  action  upon  the  regiment, 
heavy  cannonading  and  long  deep  rolls  of 


S30   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

musketry  could  be  heard  all  along  the  line  to 
the  right  of  where  our  regiment  was  stationed, 
showing  that  the  battle  was  raging  with  fierce 
ness  and  intensity. 

"  The  key  to  the  situation  on  the  left  imme 
diately  in  our  front  was  what  was  known  as 
'The  Burnside  Bridge,'  which  crossed  the  Antie- 
tam.  Here  the  enemy  had  planted  his  guns  and 
disposed  his  regiments  to  make  a  determined 
stand,  and  it  was  not  until  one  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  that  our  old  friends  of  the  5ist  New 
York,  who  had  fought  with  us  [at  Roanoke 
Island,  assisted  by  the  5ist  Pennsylvania, 
gallantly  charged  and  carried  the  bridge  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.  Shortly  afterward  our 
regiment,  as  already  indicated,  was  ordered 
to  ford  the  creek  below  the  bridge  and,  forming 
in  line  on  the  bluff  opposite,  drive  the  enemy 
from  their  places  of  security  behind  the  stone 
walls  and  onward  toward  Sharpsburgh.  The 
crossing  was  disputed.  As  our  regiment  ad 
vanced  into  the  water  several  men  went  down 
before  reaching  the  opposite  shore.  Between 
three  and  four  o'clock  the  enemy  retired  as  the 
regiment  advanced  by  the  right  flank  along 
the  bluff  of  the  creek  for  about  half  a  mile  to 
the  brow  of  a  hill.  At  this  point  our  regiment 
was  within  about  eight  hundred  yards  of  the 
enemy's  main  body  of  artillery  and  infantry. 


ORATION  OF  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  531 

Up  to  this  time  the  loss  was  meager  compared 
with  what  was  about  to  take  place.  The  steep 
assent,  rough  nature  of  the  ground,  promptness 
in  the  execution  of  orders,  caused  the  men  to 
be  fatigued  and  out  of  breath.  On  arriving  at 
this  point  the  regiment  halted  to  recover  breath 
before  making  the  next  charge. 

"  Here  was  where  the  rebel  batteries  opened 
a  most  scathing  fire  of  shot  and  shell,  and 
although  men  were  falling  upon  the  right  hand 
and  left  the  regiment  was  as  passive  and  calm 
as  at  an  evening  parade ;  each  soldier  seemed 
to  say:  'Come  one,  come  all;  these  rocks  shall 
fly  from  their  base  as  soon  as  I.' 

"  After  a  brief  time  the  order  came  to  advance, 
which  was  quickly  obeyed,  moving  in  line  of 
battle  dressing  on  the  colors  with  as  much 
coolness  and  accuracy  as  though  upon  drill 
ground.  Proceeding  about  two  hundred  yards 
the  command  '  Double  quick,  charge !'  was 
given.  Flocton,  of  Company  F,  with  a  blast 
from  his  bugle  that  could  be  heard  in  Sharps- 
burgh,  echoed  the  command  over  the  hills,  when 
with  a  loud  huzzah  and  the  cry  of  '  Zoo  !  Zoo  ! 
Zoo!'  peculiar  to  our  regiment,  forward  went 
Hawkins'  Zouaves  into  the  fiercest  fire  that 
could  be  rained  upon  a  devoted  regiment. 
Thousands  of  the  enemy's  troops,  consisting  of 
infantry  and  several  batteries  of  artillery,  were 


532   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

firing  upon  the  regiment  with  terrible  effect, 
and  looking  back  upon  that  scene  it  appears 
wonderfully  miraculous  that  one  soldier  es 
caped  to  tell  the  tale.  Here  the  gallant  Cooper 
fell;  one  shell  killed  eight  men ;  a  round  shot 
took  off  Conway's  head ;  Bussam  was  cut  in 
twain  by  a  shell ;  the  men  fell  on  top  of  one 
another,  while  bullets,  shell,  grape-shot  and 
cannister  were  poured  into  this  devoted  band 
like  hail,  producing  a  scene  of  carnage  dreadful 
to  behold.  Not  a  man  wavered  or  faltered ; 
even  the  wounded  as  they  fell  cheered  the 
regiment  onward.  One  soldier  with  the  whole 
of  his  jaw  and  the  lower  part  of  his  face  shot 
away,  unable  to  speak,  took  his  fez  and  waved 
it  above  his  head,  mutely  signaling  the  words 
he  was  unable  to  utter  to  his  comrades, 
'  Forward.' 

"  Sergeant  Salisbury,  with  a  bullet  hole 
through  his  breast,  from  which  the  blood  was 
spurting,  about  to  fall,  encouraged  the  mem 
bers  of  his  company  with  the  words :  '  Never 
mind  me,  boys,  I've  only  got  a  little  breast-pin 
-Forward!'  The  brave  impetuous  hero  of 
Chapultepec,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Kimball  and 
Acting-Adjutant  Horner,  leading  the  way,  on 
ward  they  went;  Barnett,  Harrison,  Childs, 
Leahey,  all  were  wounded ;  Graham,  Herbert, 
Burdett,  Pannis,  Dusenbury,  one  after  the 


ORATION  OF  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  S33 

other  were  struck  by  the  enemy's  fire  ;  Searing, 
Forbes,  Dews,  Geayer,  Watson,  Whitney, 
Sites,  Keating,  Smith,  Russer,  Groser,  Hol 
land,  were  wounded  or  killed  amid  this  with 
ering  fire.  Curie,  Van  Cott,  Parrel,  Stephens, 
Lawrence,  Judge,  Adair,  with  many  others,  fell 
faithfully  discharging  their  duty;  and  although 
the  line  had  been  broken  and  the  company 
diminished  by  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  these 
heroic  men,  worthy  sons  of  the  best  blood 
from  the  City  of  New  York,  our  comrades, 
closed  up  the  ranks,  and  rallied  around  these 
same  colors,  keeping  the  old  flag  that  they 
swore  to  defend,  bravely  floating  to  the  breeze 
as  they  charged  down  to  the  gates  of  death,  up 
the  mouth  of  hell. 

"  Dear  old  flag !  Companion  of  many  a 
hotly  contested  battle ;  we  bring  you  to-day  to 
the  scene  of  one  of  your  greatest  struggles 
and  grandest  triumphs.  Your  tattered  rags 
and  mangled  staff  speak  in  more  eloquent 
words  than  human  tongue  can  utter,  for  you 
tell  us  of  the  encouragement  your  presence 
afforded,  when  tired  and  thirsty  we  toiled  on 
the  path  of  duty. 

"O!  old  starry  flag,  tattered  and  mangled, 
have  you  power  to  hear  ?  Then  listen  to-day. 
The  arm  that  fought  for  you,  the  hand  that 
upheld  you,  the  heart  that  beat  for  you,  the  one 


534   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

that  loved  you,  is  dead,  buried  in  the  grave, 
and  you  come  again  to  Antietam  battlefield 
to  manifest  affectionate  regard  for  the  heroes 
who  lie  buried  on  this  battlefield.  They  loved 
you,  old  flag,  with  a  love  exceeding  that  of 
woman!  Weep  on,  old  flag,  weep  on!  The 
ear  of  these  slumbering  heroes  will  not  hear 
your  sob,  their  eyes  do  not  see  your  sorrow, 
mark  the  tatters  of  your  folds,  nor  the  feeble 
ness  of  old  age  that  has  come  upon  you, 
dear  old  flag !  Their  soul  is  undisturbed ;  the 
chaplet  of  victory  is  won ;  the  battle  is  over ; 
the  warfare  is  ended  ;  Jesus  Christ,  the  World's 
Redeemer,  has  bent  over  their  clayey  ten 
ement,  and  whispered  in  accents  of  peace, 
'Sleep  on  now  and  take  your  rest/ 

"  Your  faded  colors  tell  us  who  survive  of 
Bethel,  of  Hatteras,  of  Roanoke,  Winton,  South 
Mills,  Fredericksburgh,  Suffolk,  and  other  bat 
tles  through  which  you  passed.  You  bring 
back  the  faces  of  those  who  marched  by  our 
side,  whom  you  saw  as  they  fell  wounded, 
bruised,  mangled ;  you  heard  their  dying 
cry  and  your  stars  were  the  last  object  their 
gaze  rested  upon  ere  their  souls  took  their 
flight.  But,  it  may  be,  the  spirits  of  our 
dead  comrades  who  fell  here  in  1862  are 
with  us  again  to-day  at  this  reunion,  and  look 
with  joy  on  these  old  flags  they  gave  their  life 


ORATION  OF  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  535 

to  defend.  Comrades  from  the  spirit  world, 
with  all  our  soul  we  greet  you !  Comrades  of 
our  boyhood  (now  immortal),  all  hail!  We 
welcome  you,  for  we  know  none  have  more  in 
terest  or  right  here  than  you ! 

"  You  remember,  time  after  time,  the  one  who 
was  bearing  the  flag  fell  wounded  or  dead. 
Myers  was  the  first  to  go,  and  then  Hankinson, 
then  Van  Cott  and  Adair;  then  another  and 
another;  and  hardly  had  John  Fink,  of  Com 
pany  F,  grasped  it,  when  he  fell  stricken  down 
in  his  tracks.  Recovering  strength,  he  crawled 
from  under  four  men  who  had  fallen  by  the 
same  fire.  This  old  flag  was  dyed  in  blood 
that  day.  The  color-guard  died  faithfully  per 
forming  their  duty.  The  white  stripes  turned 
red  and  the  blood  flowed  from  those  who 
thought  more  of  this  starry  emblem  than  of 
life.  One  bullet  pierced  the  staff  and  then 
buried  itself  in  the  forearm  of  Patterson,  but 
grasping  the  colors  more  firmly,  he  cried, 
(  Forward  1 '  when  another  bullet  pierced  his  left 
eye  and  he  fell  with  his  face  to  the  foe.  All 
honor  to  the  color-guard  and  the  men  who  sus 
tained  them  upon  the  right  and  left  in  keeping 
the  flag  waving.  There  was  no  mistake  con 
cerning  these  men.  Americans  were  on  guard. 
That  morning  the  Colonel  had  called  Captain 
Libaire  to  him,  and  both  knowing  they  were  to 


S36   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

pass  through  a  fearful  ordeal,  the  Colonel  said : 
1  I  will  commit  this  flag  to  your  keeping,'  and 
the  magnificent,  heroic  Libaire  replied,  '  I  will 
bring  it  back  in  safety,  or  you  will  never  see  my 
face  in  this  world  again.'  And  now  the  issue 
was  upon  Libaire,  the  enemy  was  directly  in 
front,  their  guns  and  musketry  were  cutting 
swaths  in  the  regiment;  eight  times  had  the 
colors  fallen  to  the  ground,  the  eight  different 
men — one  after  the  other — had  picked  it  up, 
each  carrying  it  but  a  few  steps  and  then 
falling  wounded  or  dead,  and  the  flag  falling 
on  top  of  them.  It  seemed  instant  death  to 
carry  the  old  flag  that  day;  but  the  thought 
of  duty  was  greater  than  the  thought  of 
danger,  and  as  the  flag  went  down  the 
last  time,  the  gallant  Libaire  himself  sprang 
forward  in  the  midst  of  the  reign  of  death 
and  the  horrors  of  hell,  grasped  the  colors 
firmly  in  his  hands,  and  with  flashing  eye  and 
cheerful  tone,  cried  at  the  top  of  his  voice : 
'  Come  on,  boys  !  Come  on  ! '  and  never  sur 
rendered  his  hold  until  he  had  planted  this 
American  flag  upon  the  stone  wall,  the  last 
defensive  position  the  enemy's  infantry  held, 
while  the  remnant  of  our  regiment  pressed  for 
ward  and  drove  the  enemy's  gunners  from  their 
cannon.* 

*Since  this  address  was  delivered,  Captain  Libaire  had  received  the 
Medal  of  Honor  from  the  Government,  in  recognition  of  this  act, 
thirty-five  years  after. 


ORATION  OF  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  537 

"  Concerning  this  last  charge  our  faithful 
soldier  friend,  Captain  Curie,  writes :  '  About 
four  or  five  o'clock  the  order  to  advance  was 
given.  All  the  men  then  rose  to  their  feet,  and 
soon  were  on  the  march  "  double  time ''  toward 
the  village  of  Sharpsburgh.  The  enemy's  bat 
teries,  which,  prior  to  that  time  had  been  using 
only  shell,  began  to  pour  out  grape  and  can- 
nister,  making  sore  havoc  on  our  ranks  from 
the  time  we  began  to  move.  There  was  a  lane 
between  two  fences,  some  of  which  were  down, 
so  that  some  of  the  men  had  to  climb  these;  a 
stone  wall  was  reached  and  passed  three  or 
four  hundred  yards  before  the  regiment  reached 
its  final  stand  at  the  wall  on  the  brow  of  the 
hill,  immediately  in  front  of  and  in  full  view 
of  the  village  of  Sharpsburgh,  and  on  the  pres 
ent  site  of  the  monument.' 

"At  last  the  victory  was  ours;  the  regiment 
had  been  given  a  hard  task  to  perform,  but  that 
duty  was  accomplished,  confirming  its  history 
of  Roanoke,  when  it  made  the  first  bayonet 
charge  of  the  war,  viz.:  that  it  would  conquer 
the  enemy's  position  or  die  in  its  tracks. 

"Standing  by  the  side  of  this  monument,  that 
dreadful  scene  that  presented  itself  after  the 
charge  comes  vividly  to  mind,  from  yonder 
Antietam  Creek  to  the  base  of  this  monument 
the  pathway  is  marked  with  the  wounded,  the 


638    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

dying  and  the  dead !  We  think  of  them  as 
they  left  New  York  City,  in  1861,  bright, 
buoyant,  youthful,  hopeful,  and  we  look  now 
over  the  hills  and  the  valleys  and  see  the  same 
boys  —  sons,  whose  mothers  loved  them  as 
your  mother  loves  you — mutilated,  shattered, 
wounded,  dead!  I  recall  a  few  additional 
names  of  those  that  fell  on  this  field :  Turner, 
Rasiga,  Hilderbrand,  Bennett,  Gunther,  Shaffer, 
Alber,  Watson,  Beeker,  Bessling,  Rothers, 
Blazer,  Hassan,  McDermot,  Smith,  Dillman, 
Conway,  Negus,  Stites,  Hopper,  Burd,  Flem 
ing,  the  two  Johnson  brothers,  Stephson,  Chris- 
tain,  Collins,  and  Shaw.  Some  of  these  are 
buried  on  this  field.  These  are  but  a  few  of 
the  names  of  those  who  fell  on  the  spot  occu 
pied  by  this  monument  or  on  the  slopes  toward 
the  Antietam. 

"  This  charge,  although  driving  the  enemy 
from  their  places,  bathing  the  soil  with  blood 
and  causing  the  regiment  to  loose  over  65  per 
cent,  of  their  number,  does  not  tell  the  whole 
story,  because  it  carried  distress  and  agony  into 
scores  of  homes  from  whence  the  members  of 
this  regiment  had  come ;  for  we  remember  that 
there  were  fathers,  mothers,  wives,  and  sweet 
hearts  and  little  children  who  were  left  desol 
ate  in  many  New  York  homes,  because  of  the 
events  transpiring  on  this  field  in  1862. 


ORATION  OF  REV,  CLARK  WRIGHT.  539 

"  The  Union  Army  had  won  a  great  victory, 
and  the  enemy  hastily  retreated  south  of  the 
Potomac ;  but  the  price  paid  was  too  great  for 
the  triumphs  won,  when  we  consider  what  was 
clearly  within  our  grasp.  Had  the  charge  led 
by  this  regiment  been  sustained  by  the  troops 
in  our  rear,  the  mass  of  cannon  and  the  right 
wing  of  the  rebel  army,  and  necessarily  with  it 
the  center  and  left,  would  have  been  captured 
beyond  question,  for,  although  the  enemy  were 
reinforced  by  the  energetic  A.  P.  Hill,  from 
Harper's  Ferry,  our  forces  were  sufficient  for 
the  situation,  had  they  been  thrown  forward 
and  concentrated  by  General  Cox,  at  this  par 
ticular  point.  It  is  only  another  instance  that 
occurs  so  frequently  in  war,  where  a  general 
has  victory  within  his  grasp  and  by  neglect  or 
lack  of  decision  fails  to  reap  the  benefit  of  the 
same.  At  4  P.M.,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  iyth, 
the  enemy  in  and  around  Sharpsburgh  were 
panic  stricken  and  were  flying  faster  toward  the 
Potomac  river  than  any  troops  ran  at  the  battle 
of  Bull  Run;  their  guns  were  deserted,  and 
some  of  the  Ninth  New  York  placed  their 
hands  upon  the  guns  the  enemy  had  left  in 
their  mad  flight ;  indeed,  some  of  the  members 
of  our  regiment,  forgetful  of  discipline,  were  so 
carried  away  with  certainty  of  victory  that  they 
individually  pursued  the  flying  enemy  on  down 


S4O  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

through  the  streets  of  Sharpsburgh,  and  were 
finally  recalled,  not,  however,  until  some  of  our 
number,  like  comrade  Christian  and  John  Byrd, 
fell,  shot  through  the  head,  in  the  principal 
street  of  the  village — victory  was  ours  ! 

"  General  McClellan  states  in  his  report  of 
the  battle  of  Antietam :  '  The  Union  Army 
captured  13  guns  and  39  colors,  more  than 
15,000  stands  of  small  arms,  and  more  than 
6,000  prisoners  were  the  trophies  which  attest 
the  success  of  our  arms.' 

"  Had  the  charge  on  the  left  been  sustained 
by  the  troops  in  our  rear  that  day  General 
Longstreet  and  General  A.  P.  Hill  would  have 
been  driven  back  overwhelmed,  and  the  right 
wing  of  the  rebel  forces  captured  or  destroyed. 

"  General  Hill,  in  his  report  of  this  battle 
states  :  ' My  troops  were  not  in  a  moment  too 
soon ;  the  enemy  had  already  advanced  and 
broken  through  Jones'  division,  captured  Mc- 
Intosh's  battery,  and  were  in  full  tide  of  suc 
cess.  With  a  yell  of  defiance,  Archer  charged 
them,  retook  Mclntosh's  guns  and  drove  them 
back.' 

"The  inactivity  of  our  troops  in  different 
parts  of  the  army  seems  inexplicable ;  with  the 
enemy  panic-stricken,  deserting  their  guns,  a 
few  of  our  men  fighting  to  the  death,  without 
strength  to  take  from  the  field  the  guns  they 


ORATION  OP  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  541 

captured,  with  thousands  of  well  armed  men 
standing  unemployed ;  with  the  enemy,  rein 
forced  by  troops  from  Harper's  Ferry,  exhausted 
by  the  forced  march,  coming  to  bolster  the 
defeated  army  of  Lee.  It  is  a  mystery  to  this 
day  unsolved,  why  the  whole  of  the  rebel  army 
was  not  captured  at  the  battle  of  Antietam. 

"  There  is  but  one  way  whereby  the  problem 
can  be  solved :  It  is  that  there  is  a  Divine 
Providence  ever  ruling  the  affairs  of  men :  that 
peace  should  not  come  to  our  land  until  the 
four  millions  of  slaves  held  in  bondage  should 
be  set  free ;  that  the  slave-driver's  whip  and  the 
slave-master's  shackles  should  no  longer  polute 
the  air  of  America,  but  before  peace  could  come 
to  all  the  land,  every  human  being,  black  or 
white,  should  be  free  to  enjoy  'Life,  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness.'  This  is  the  only 
solution  possible — why  the  army  of  General  Lee 
was  not  captured  at  the  battle  of  Antietam. 

"  We  must  remember  that  God  rules  in  the 
armies  of  Heaven  and  among  the  inhabitants 
of  the  earth ;  and  he  beheld  them,  as  we  see 
now,  that  this  country  could  not  exist  *  one-half 
slave  and  the  other  half  free.'  Up  to  the  iyth 
of  September,  1862,  the  war  had  been  waged 
solely  and  absolutely  for  the  preservation  of  the 
the  Union.  The  question  of  emancipation  of 
the  slaves  had  been  frequently  urged  upon  the 


S42    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

President,  and  he  was  asked  to  issue  a  Pro- 
claimation  of  Emancipation  as  a  war  measure, 
to  assist  in  weakening  the  enemy  and  strength 
ening  those  fighting  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union.  None  can  read  the  life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  not  feel  his  sympathy  and  convic 
tions  were  on  the  side  of  emancipation,  not  only 
as  a  war  measure,  but  because  it  was  right, 
and  that  as  God  has  created  all  men  free,  Lin 
coln  looked  upon  the  perpetuation  of  slavery  as 
a  crime.  Yet  so  complicated  was  the  situation, 
he  feared  emancipation  would  seriously  affect 
the  continued  loyalty  of  the  border  States  and 
loyal  men  who  were  slave-holders. 

"  Such  was  the  condition  in  the  summer 
of  1862,  when  a  visitor  to  the  White  House, 
who  went  there  to  discuss  this  subject  with  the 
President,  found  Mr.  Lincoln  pacing  the  floor 
of  his  room.  Mr.  Lincoln  took  him  by  the 
hand,  and  said:  'On  my  knees,  J  have  laid  this 
matter  before  God.  If  He  wants  the  slaves 
emancipated,  I  will  do  it.  If,  after  the  next 
great  battle  that  shall  be  fought  by  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  victory  comes  to  us,  I  will  know 
by  that  God  desires  not  only  the  preservation 
of  the  Union,  but  the  freedom  of  the  slaves  ;  it 
is  now  in  God's  hands.  I  shall  let  the  matter 
rest  until  after  the  next  great  battle.' 


ORATION  OF  REV.  CLARK  WRIGHT.  543 

"  You  all  know  how  great  and  bloody  that 
battle  was,  fought  upon  these  very  grounds, 
and  how  rapidly  the  troops  coming  from  the 
scene  of  the  martyrdom  of  John  Brown,  to  rein 
force  Lee's  army  here  were  defeated  and 
driven  back,  and  after  fourteen  hours'  continu 
ous  battle  the  enemy  disappeared  and  hastily 
crossed  to  the  south  side  of  the  Potomac  River. 
It  was  God  speaking  to  Abraham  Lincoln — 
4  The  slave  shall  be  free ! ' 

"Like  Gideon  of  old,  the  test  was  made,  and 
the  answer  comes  from  this  bloody  field  of  An- 
tietam.  Lincoln  is  true  to  the  compact,  for  as 
soon  as  positive  news  of  the  victory  reached 
Washington,  he  at  once  prepared  the  Emanci 
pation  Proclamation,  and  shortly  after  issued 
the  same,  declaring,  in  the  face  of  the  world, 
that  henceforth  and  forever  slavery  was  abol 
ished  throughout  the  United  States. 

"  We  obtain  a  better  understanding  of  the 
situation  after  the  lapse  of  these  years,  for  had 
Gen.  R.  E.  Lee's  army  been  captured  or  com 
pletely  annihilated  on  this  field,  it  would  have 
resulted  in  a  compromise  with  the  States  in 
rebellion  whereby  peace  would  have  been 
declared  and  slavery  continued ;  but  '  God 
moves  in  a  mysterious  way,  his  wonders  to 
perform,'  and  the  supineness  of  commanders, 
the  inactivity  of  army  corps,  the  blunder  of 


544   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

generals,  and  the  escape  of  Lee,  finds  answer, 
as  we  behold  Abraham  Lincoln  on  his  knees 
before  his  God,  asking  not  only  for  wisdom  to 
save  the  Union,  but  to  open  the  way  whereby 
four  millions  of  slaves  may  be  made  free.  The 
revelations  of  history  confirm  the  statement, 
permanent  peace  could  not  come  until  the 
power  of  the  United  States  to  enforce  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  should  be  mani 
fested  to  the  world  on  subsequent  battlefields, 
extending  from  Antietam  to  Appomatox. 

"  We  were  disappointed  that  the  fruits  of  our 
great  victory  were  not  gathered  here,  but  sub 
sequent  events  proved  that  on  Antietam  battle 
field  we  builded  better  than  we  knew,  for  the 
cardinal  issues  of  the  war  that  should  give  this 
country  a  permanent  peace,  were  fixed  and  set 
tled  by  the  battle  of  Antietam.  Here  the 
question  of  slavery  was  forever  settled,  and  our 
faithful  army  was  to  go  hence  to  Gettysburg 
and  Petersburgh,  and  crown  the  labor  and  toil 
of  the  years  of  contest  by  the  surrender  of  Gen 
eral  Lee  to  General  Grant  at  Appomatox. 

"And  now,  my  comrades,  this  memorial 
work  commemorating  the  heroism  of  our  fallen 
comrades  of  the  Ninth  Regiment,  New  York 
Volunteers,  is  completed.  Our  duty  is  done. 
Here  this  monument  will  stand  and  tell  to 
future  generations  how  brave  men  fought,  and 


ORATION  OF  REV,  CLARK  WRIGHT.  545 

how  an  American  citizen,  transformed  into  an 
American  soldier,  died,  that  the  Republic  might 
live,  and  the  principles  of  liberty  and  union  be 
perpetuated  while  the  land  of  the  free  is  the 
home  of  the  brave. 

"  You,  my  surviving  comrades  of  our  old 
regiment,  come  here  for  the  last  time — here  we 
bid  a  final  good-bye  to  all  that  is  mortal  of 
those  who  found  a  grave  on  the  field  of  glory. 
May  their  repose  be  peaceful  as  the  flowers  of 
springtime  that  bestrew  their  graves  with  their 
fragrance  each  recurring  Decoration  Day.  We 
can  never  forget  them,  but  will  remember  their 
fidelity,  devotion  and  heroism ;  and  may  it  be 
ours,  when  the  Supreme  Commander  of  the 
Universe  shall  call  our  names  to  answer  with 
alacrity  and  joy,  'Here!'  so  when  the  final 
report  is  made  it  will  show  all  present  at  that 
grand  reunion  on  the  shores  of  a  blessed  im 
mortality. 

"  Until  then,  dear  comrades  of  the  Ninth 
New  York  Volunteers  who  found  your  sepul 
chre  on  this  field,  farewell — farewell !  May  the 
angels  of  God  watch  over  your  sacred  dust. 

"  The  night  of  final  separation  has  come  ;  the 
arms  are  stacked,  the  sword  is  sheathed ;  night 
is  spreading  her  mantle,  but  the  stars  of  hope 
are  brightly  shining ;  some  in  the  camp  are 
already  sleeping,  soon  we  will  join  them. 


546   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

11  Solemnly,  mournfully, 
Dealing  its  dole, 
The  curfew  bell 
Is  beginning  to  toll. 
Cover  the  embers 
And  put  out  the  light  ; 
Toil  comes  with  the  morning 
And  rest  with  the  night. 
Dark  grow  the  tents 
And  quenched  is  the  fire  ; 
Sound  fades  in  silence, 
All  footsteps  retire; 
No  voice  in  the  camp, 
No  challenge,  no  call. 
Listen,  taps  are  sounding  !" 

When  the  applause  which  followed  the  clos 
ing  of  the  oration  had  subsided  the  formality 
of  completing  the  transfer  of  the  monument 
and  land  to  the  representative  of  the  Secretary 
of  War  was  proceeded  with,  Colonel  Hawkins 
introducing  the  comrade  who  was  to  perform 
that  duty  in  the  following  words : 

"  We  have  with  us  to-day  another  of  the 
youngsters  who,  like  the  one  previously  pre 
sented,  had  made  up  his  mind  to  become  a 
soldier,  and  accordingly  enlisted  in  Company 
C.  With  gun,  canteen,  haversack  and  knap 
sack,  he  went  through  his  term  of  service,  hav 
ing  well  earned  the  rank  of  corporal  in  his 
company. 

"  Not  satisfied  with  having  ended  his  honor 
able  term  of  service  in  the  Ninth,  he  became  an 
officer  in  another  regiment  and  saw  the  end  of 
the  Rebellion  as  a  captain  in  the  lySth  New 
York  Volunteers. 

"  I    now   take    pleasure    in    presenting    that 


TRANSFERRING  THE  TITLE.  S47 

patriotic  gentleman  in  the  person  of  Captain 
Charles  Curie,  who  will  present  the  title-deed 
of  our  monument  to  General  E.  A.  Carman,  the 
representative  of  the  United  States,  appointed 
to  receive  it. 

Captain  Curie,  in  presenting  the  deed,  said : 
"  General  E.  A.  Carman,  United  States  Com 
missioner  in  charge  of  Antietam  Battlefield — 
The  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New 
York  appropriating  a  portion  of  the  money  for 
the  erection  of  this  monument  made  the  con 
ditions  following : 

'  Upon  the  securing  of  the  dedication  of  the 
ground  upon  which  said  monument  shall  rest 
to  the  memorial  purpose  for  which  said  monu 
ment  shall  be  erected,  with  the  rights  of  free 
access  thereto  by  the  public,  subject  neverthe 
less,  to  proper  rules  and  regulations  for  the 
preservation  of  said  grounds  and  the  monu 
ment  to  be  erected  thereon,  and  the  committee 
are  directed  to  prescribe  rules  and  regulations 
to  govern  the  consideration  and  determination 
of  the  matters  relating  thereto/ 

"  This  Committee,  authorized  by  the  unani 
mous  vote  of  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves  Associa 
tion,  decided  that,  inasmuch  as  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  had  made  provision  for 
the  laying  out  of  the  battlefield  of  Antietam, 
and  had  already  done  so  much  for  the  preser 
vation  of  the  history  of  that  battle  by  laying  out 


B48    NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

roads  and  placing  monuments  and  markers  on 
the  entire  field,  showing  the  positions  of  the 
contending  forces,  and  also  marking  the  places 
where  the  general  officers  fell,  and  providing  for 
a  care  taker,  that  the  monument  would  be  best 
protected  and  preserved  if  placed  in  its  custody 
and  care,  and  the  Committee  having  received 
intimation  that  the  United  States  was  willing  to 
accept  it  for  the  purpose  stated,  I  have  been 
instructed  and  have  now  the  pleasure  to  hand 
to  you,  and,  through  you  to  the  United  States 
of  America,  the  deed  for  this  monument  and  the 
land  upon  which  it  stands,  with  a  right  of  way 
to  it,  for  perpetual  custody  and  care. 

"May  it  stand  on  fair  Maryland's  historic 
field  a  reminder  to  all  the  sister  States  that 
only  within  the  family  fold  their  true  happiness 
lies,  and  no  wrongs  to  be  redressed,  imaginary 
or  real,  can  every  justify  bloodshed  such  as 
was  witnessed  on  this  battlefield,  and  that  it  is 
in  unity  and  peace  alone  they  are  to  abide 
forevermore." 

In  accepting  the  monument  on  behalf  of  the 
United  States,  Gen.  Ezra  A.  Carman,  of  the 
Antietam  Battlefield  Commission,  who  acted 
by  authority  and  in  behalf  of  the  Secretary  of 
War,  said  : 

"Survivors  of  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves: — By 
direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  I  accept  for 


GENERAL  CARMAN'S  REMARKS.  549 

the  United  States  this  imposing  monument, 
erected  by  the  State  of  New  York  to  perpetu 
ate  and  accentuate  the  history  of  one  of  her 
most  heroic  regiments,  and  especially  to  com 
memorate  its  unfaltering  devotion  to  duty  on 
this  field. 

"  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  do  this,  for  I 
recognize  that  of  all  the  heroic  organizations 
whose  devotion  to  duty  and  country  was  tried 
on  this  unparalleled  field  of  blood,  none  ex 
ceeded  yours  in  bravery  exhibited,  sacrifices 
made,  and  results  achieved. 

"The  iyth  day  of  September,  1862,  will  long 
be  remembered  in  the  annals  of  American 
history.  The  bitter  and  bloody  contest  in  the 
morning  on  the  right,  near  Dunkard  Church, 
brought  no  decisive  result.  Later  in  the  day 
you  crossed  the  Antietam  by  one  of  the  lower 
fords,  advanced  over  these  hills  a  mile,  under 
a  most  unerring  and  murderous  fire  of  artil 
lery,  marking  your  path  by  scores  of  dead  and 
wounded,  reached  this  high  ground,  and  in 
the  face  of  a  sheet  of  musketry  dashed  at  and 
overthrew  the  right  of  Lee's  army--Kemper's 
Virginia,  and  Drayton's  South  Carolina  Brig 
ades — the  flower  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 

"  Through  no  fault  of  yours  the  fruits  of 
your  bravery  were  not  gathered,  and  the  van 
tage  ground  so  dearly  paid  for  by  the  blood 


55O   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

of  your  comrades  was  relinquished,  but  you 
can  never  relinquish  the  claim  of  duty  well 
done,  nor  will  history  question  it. 

"  One  of  the  most  eloquent  tributes  paid  to 
human  valor  was  that  of  Sir  Charles  Napier,  to 
an  English  officer,  who  fell  while  assaulting 
the  enemy's  work  at  Badajos,  Spain,  in  1812. 
He  says:  'But  Ridge  fell,  and  no  man  died 
that  night  with  more  glory,  yet  many  died,  and 
there  was  much  glory.' 

"What  is  here  most  beautifully  and  touch- 
ingly  said  of  one  man  can  be  said  of  your 
comrades — none  died  with  more  glory,  where 
many  fell,  and  there  was  much  glory. 

"  In  yonder  beautiful  cemetery,  in  ground 
hallowed  by  their  silent  forms,  your  comrades, 
who  carried  the  crown  of  glory  are  taking 
their  long  rest.  The  Government  whose  liber 
ties  they  did  so  much  to  preserve  and  integrity 
to  perpetuate,  watches  their  eternal  sleep  with 
tender  care.  As  it  cares  for  them,  so  will  it 
care  for  this  imposing  shaft  dedicated  to  their 
memory  and  to  their  and  your  valor. 

"  So  long  as  granite  shall  last,  history  will 
not  fail  to  write  nor  tradition  to  repeat  the 
story  of  the  Hawkins'  Zouaves  on  the  field  of 
the  Antietam." 

Colonel  Hawkins  then  said : 

"  Among  the  brave  and  faithful  of  the  regi- 


' '  AN  TIE  TAM, "  551 

ment  no  one  was  ever  more  respected  than 
Sergeant  Samuel  L.  Malcolm,  who  honestly 
earned  his  stripes  in  Company  C,  I  now  call 
upon  him  to  give  us,  in  his  own  impassioned 
way,  the  well  known  poem  entitled  'Antietam  !' ' 
Sergeant  Malcolm  recites  the  following  ex 
tract  from  the  poem : 

"  To  rest  as  those  who  bivouac  still 
At  Marathon  and  Bunker  Hill. 
No  more  the  pulse  that  beat  so  true 
Will  quicken  at  the  loved  tattoo; 
Still  hands  unseen  will  hither  bring 
The  earliest  flowers  of  the  spring; 
For  every  clod  we  tread  to-day 
Is  moulded  from  some  hero's  clay. 
And  looking  downward  from  the  skies, 
Perchance  the  melancholy  eyes 
Of  Lincoln  wear  a  tender  glow 
As  on  this  scene  he  gazes  now. 
O  death!  where  is  thy  sting  ?  O  grave  ! 
Where  is  thy  victory  o'er  the  brave  ? 
Not  with  dim  sight  and  tottering  frame 
They  sought  the  dust  from  whence  they  came. 
With  eye  whose  flash  seemed  of  the  storm, 
And  war  embodied  in  each  form, 
They  marched  at  glory's  clarion  call 
To  graves  as  to  a  banquet  hall. 
Through  such  heroic  souls  as  those 
The  Lord  of  Hosts  his  God-head  shows; 
O'er  them  no  mournful  requiem  floats, 
But  bugles  peal  their  loudest  notes; 
As  to  the  heaven  of  fame  they  march 
Beneath  the  flag — its  rainbow  arch; 
With  an  eternal  furlough  blest, 
Sweet,  sweet  shall  be  the  patriot's  rest, 
As  worn  with  toil  whose  fruits  sublime 
Are  budding  on  the  bough  of  time. 
And  while  above  these  sainted  brave 
One  stripe  of  that  old  flag  will  wave, 
This  consecrated  spot  will  be 
A  sacred  Mecca  of  the  free." 


5S2   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

The  reading  of  the  poem  closed  the  dedica 
ting  ceremonies  as  arranged  by  the  committee. 

Just  as  the  comrades  and  their  friends  were 
beginning  to  disperse  Colonel  Hawkins  again 
claimed  their  attention  for,  as  he  said,  a  few 
moments,  while  General  Carman,  who  was 
already  leaving  the  field,  was  intercepted  and 
brought  back  to  the  foot  of  the  monument  by 
Major  Horner  with  the  remark:  "  One  moment, 
General.  We  have  a  little  private  matter  we 
wish  to  settle  with  you." 

General  Carman  submitted  with  a  good 
grace,  but  was  very  much  astonished  at  the 
procedure.  Colonel  Hawkins  then  addressed 
the  assemblage  as  follows : 

"The  bringing  to  a  successful  conclusion 
the  labor  of  erecting  this  monument  was  not 
accomplished  without  the  usual  accompanying 
vexatious  incidents.  And  your  committee  had 
not  proceeded  very  far  with  their  under 
taking  before  they  discovered  that  'outside 
assistance  would  have  to  be  called  to  their 
aid. 

"What  was  needed  most  was  a  man  on 
the  spot — some  one  intelligent  and  efficient 
to  assist  in  locating  the  site,  which  was  the 
most  important  point  we  had  to  consider, 
and,  besides,  our  dealings  with  the  people 
here — the  natives — were  so  varied,  covered 


LOVING-CUP  TO  GENERAL  CARMAN,  S53 

such  a  multitude  of  details,  that  they  called 
for  most  careful  attention.  The  laying  of  a 
sufficiently  solid  foundation  had  to  be  looked 
after,  as  well  as  the  moving  and  setting  of 
the  ponderous  parts  of  the  superstructure. 

"The  man  of  all  others  for  our  purpose 
happened  to  be  just  where  he  was  most 
needed,  anxious  and  willing  to  serve.  And 
without  his  kindly  and  interested  assistance 
we  might  not  have  been  here  to-day  to 
witness  the  completion  of  our  work. 

"  We  found  this  efficient  assistant  in  the  per 
son  of  Gen.  E.  A.  Carman,  the  United  States 
Antietam  Battlefield  Commissioner,  employed 
by  the  Government  to  make  a  new  battle-day 
map  and  to  mark  the  most  notable  points  of 
interest  upon  this  historic  field. 

"Acknowledging  the  value  of  his  services, 
appreciating  our  obligations  to  him,  and  de 
siring,  in  an  insufficient  way,  to  express  our 
sentiments  of  gratitude,  your  committee  pro 
cured  a  memento  which  we  are  about  to 
present  to  him  as  a  token  of  our  cordial 
good  will  and  esteem,  and  I  now  ask  him 
to  step  forward,  so  as  to  be  seen  by  all, 
and  to  accept  from  our  hands  this  loving- 
cup,  which  carries  with  it  our  good  wishes 
for  his  health  and  happiness  as  well  as  all 
the  gratitude  we  have  to  give." 


534   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

General  Carman,  although  very  much  sur 
prised,  and,  as  was  natural  under  the  circum 
stances,  somewhat  embarrassed,  accepted  the 
cup  in  a  few  well-chosen  words,  assuring 
the  committee  of  his  appreciation  of  the  gift, 
which,  although  given  for  acts  which  he  con 
sidered  labors  of  love,  and  which  he  was 
only  too  happy  to  have  been  able  to  per 
form,  still,  that  he  would  always  prize  the 
gift  in  remembrance  of  a  pleasant  duty  and 
as  a  memento  of  the  brief  but  cordial  asso 
ciation  with  the  committee,  and  in  pleasant 
remembrance  of  his  meeting  with  the  sur 
vivors  of  a  gallant  regiment  that  had  done 
so  much  to  make  Antietam's  field  historic. 

The  company,  separating  into  groups,  en 
joyed  an  interesting  drive  over  the  battle-field, 
visiting  the  National  Cemetery,  Burnside's 
Bridge,  and  many  other  points  of  interest, 
including  the  farmhouses  where  several  of 
those  present,  who  were  wounded  in  the  bat 
tle,  had  been  cared  for,  and  after  spending 
several  hours  in  this  manner  were  reassem 
bled  at  the  train  and  proceeded  to  Hagers- 
town  for  dinner.  The  return  journey  was  re 
sumed  in  the  evening,  and  after  a  leisurely 
and  enjoyable  trip,  all  arrived  safely  at  their 
destination  without  a  single  unpleasant  inci 
dent  to  mar  the  success  of  either  the  journey 
or  the  ceremonies. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

AFTER  MUSTER-OUT  —  DESIRE  OF  THE  MEN  OF  THE 
REGIMENT  TO  RETAIN  THE  FLAGS  —  MANNER  IN 
WHICH  THEY  WERE  CARED  FOR  —  REASONS  WHY 
THEY  SHOULD  BE  TRANSFERRED  TO  THE  STATE  — 
CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  THE  GOVERNOR  —  NAMES 
OF  SURVIVORS  WHO  WERE  PRESENT  AT  THE  CERE 
MONY  —  RECEPTION  OF  THE  DELEGATION  BY  GOV 
ERNOR  ROOSEVELT  —  LIEUTENANT  GRAHAM'S  RE 
MARKS—GOVERNOR  ROOSEVELT'S  REPLY  —  MAJOR 
DEBEVOISE'S  SKETCH  OF  SERVICE  —  TAPS  —  THE 
END. 

AFTER  the  regiment  had  been  mustered 
out  of  service  all  the  government  pro 
perty  of  which  it,  as  an  organization,  was  pos 
sessed,  or  for  which  any  of  the  individual 
members  were  responsible,  was  either  turned 
over  to  the  custody  of  the  various  government 
officers,  whose  duty  it  was  to  take  charge  of  it, 
or  was  properly  accounted  for  to  such  officers, 
except  the  regimental  colors.  These,  in  re 
sponse  to  the  almost  unanimous  wish  and  de 
sire  of  both  officers  and  men,  were  retained 
as  the  property  of  the  regiment  and  placed  in 
the  care  of  Colonel  Hawkins. 

The  ex-members  of  the  regiment,  both  col 
lectively  and  individually,  felt  that  they  had  full 


656   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

proprietary  rights  in  them,  and  these  rights 
they  wished  to  exercise.  At  that  time,  and  for  a 
number  of  years  subsequent  thereto,  the  State 
had  not  made  any  proper  provision  for  the  care 
and  safety  of  such  flags  as  had  been  or  were 
being  delivered  to  its  representatives  by  the 
returning  regiments.  An  old  fire  engine-house 
in  Albany  was  at  that  time  considered  by  the 
State  officers  good  enough  to  serve  as  a  final 
depository  for  these  relics,  which,  during  the 
years  when  serving  as  regimental  standards, 
had  been  followed  by  the  men  of  the  various 
organizations  through  march  and  battle,  storm 
and  sunshine,  summer's  heat  and  winter's  cold; 
which  were  to  them  the  visible  embodiment  of 
their  country,  and  of  the  cause  in  which  they 
were  engaged,  and  which  were  considered  by 
them  as  almost  too  sacred  to  permit  the  rains 
of  heaven  to  fall  upon. 

When  the  survivors  of  the  regiment  formed 
the  Hawkins'  Zouaves  Association,  it  was  form 
ally  decided  by  that  body  that  their  flags  which 
had  waved  over  them  in  the  hour  of  victory, 
and  under  the  folds  of  which  so  many  of  their 
comrades  had  given  up  their  lives,  would,  under 
the  then  existing  conditions,  be  safer  in  their 
own  custody  than  in  that  of  the  State. 

A  place  was  provided  for  their  safe-keeping 
from  which  they  were  never  removed  except 


WHY  THEY  WERE  GIVEN  UP.  SS7 

when  taken  out  on  occasions  of  extraordinary 
importance  and  interest  to  the  organization  of 
survivors  as  a  whole,  as  for  instance,  to  ac 
company  the  body  of  a  deceased  comrade  of 
the  regiment  to  its  last  resting  place,  where  they 
were  unfurled  while  "  taps  "'  were  sounded  over 
the  grave.  They  were  sacredly  guarded  and 
protected,  as  well  as  it  was  possible  to  do 
so,  against  deterioration  and  decay,  but  a  time 
came,  when  owing  either  to  the  chemical  action 
of  the  dye  with  which  the  silk  was  colored 
or  to  the  destroying  effects  of  time  alone,  the 
fiber  of  which  they  were  composed  became  so 
weakened  and  frail  that  they  were  reduced  to 
a  condition  when  they  could  no  longer  be 
handled  without  injuring  them;  when  they 
could  not  be  unfurled,  no  matter  how  carefully 
that  operation  was  performed,  without  great 
danger  of  their  falling  to  pieces. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  sad  realization  had 
been  gradually  forced  into  the  minds  of 
most  of  the  survivors  that  year  by  year  their 
number  was  so  rapidly  diminishing  that  in  a 
comparatively  short  time  none  of  them  would 
be  left  to  care  for  them.  Time,  the  great 
destroyer  as  well  as  healer,  had  been  busy 
in  their  ranks  in  the  years  since  the  muster- 
out.  The  Grim  Reaper  had  made  many  calls 
during  the  thirty-six  years  which  had  passed 


SS8   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

since  then,  and  who  can  deny  him  when 
these  visits  are  made  ?  These  considerations 
forced  the  comrades  at  last  to  take  action,  and 
inasmuch  as  a  suitable  and  worthy  place  had 
finally  been  prepared  at  the  Capitol  for  all  the 
State  flags,  it  was  decided  to  deposit  them 
there. 

By  direction  of  the  Executive  Committee  of 
the  Association  the  Governor  of  the  State 
was  communicated  with  as  follows: 

HEADQUARTERS  HAWKINS'  ZOUAVES  ASSOCIATION, 

No.  74  William  Street,  New  York,  April  17,  1899. 
HON.  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT, 

Governor  State  of  New  York. 

DEAR  SIR:— The  Battle  Flags  of  the  Ninth  New  York  Volunteers 
(Hawkins*  Zouaves)  will  be  deposited  in  the  Capitol  at  Albany  on 
Thursday,  the  2oth  inst.  It  has  always  been  a  matter  of  pride  to  the 
relatives  and  friends  of  the  regiment,  as  well  as  to  its  surviving 
members,  that  if  any  comrade  should  be  taken  away  the  old  colors 
would  accompany  his  remains  to  his  last  resting  place.  But  time  and 
former  service  have  made  sad  havoc  with  the  material  of  which  they 
are  made,  and  they  can  now  no  longer  be  unfurled  with  safety.  We 
are,  therefore,  about  to  deposit  them  in  the  place  reserved  for  their 
perpetual  care  and  protection. 

We  deem  it  a  special  privilege  to  perform  this  patriotic  duty 
during  the  term  of  your  administration.  You  have  shown  your  devo 
tion  to  your  country  and  its  flag  during  the  recent  war  with  Spain,  and 
we  are  sure  you  will  be  better  able  to  appreciate  our  feelings  in  parting 
with  our  dear  old  colors.  Should  your  public  duties  permit,  it  would 
afford  the  old  veterans  of  the  Ninth  the  greatest  pleasure  to  have  you 
present  on  this  occasion  with  such  members  of  your  official  staff  as 
could  be  present  to  witness  the  ceremony. 

With  the  kindest  regards  and  best  wishes  from  all  the  comrades, 

I  am,  most  respectfully  yours, 

JAMES  H.  FOLAN,  Secretary. 

OFFICIAL,  JAMES  R.  WHITING,  President. 

The  Governor,  with  soldierly  promptness, 
sent  the  following  reply : 


THE  SURVIVORS  WHO  WERE  PRESENT.  559 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER, 

ALBANY,  April  19,  1899. 
MR.  JAMES  H.  FOLAN,  Secretary. 

No.  74  William  Street,  New  York. 

MY  DEAR  SIR: — I  thank  you  most  heartily  for  yours  of  the  i7th  inst. 
I  deeply  appreciate  the  gift.  Of  course  I  shall  be  present  with  all  my 
staff  that  I  can  gather  to  take  part  in  the  ceremonies. 

Yours  sincerely, 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 

The  day  chosen  for  the  ceremony,  the  2Oth 
of  April,  1899,  was  the  one  following  the 
anniversary  day  of  the  regiment  and  on 
which  the  annual  reunions  are  held.  This 
was  to  enable  the  out-of-town  comrades,  who 
were  obliged  to  make  some  sacrifice  of  time 
to  attend  the  reunion,  to  participate  in  the 
ceremonies  of  the  flags  before  returning  to 
their  homes,  thereby  avoiding  an  additional 
journey  for  that  purpose. 

The  following  named  twenty-six  members 
of  the  regiment  left  New  York  on  the  8 : 30: 
A.M.  train  for  Albany  on  that  day,  to  par 
ticipate  in  the  last  parade  of  their  old  colors 

Matthew  J.  Graham,  V.  M.  C.  Silva,  Charles 
Curie,  J.  C.  Julius  Langbein,  James  B.  Hor- 
ner,  George  W.  Debevoise,  James  H.  Folan, 
Daniel  T.  Van  Duser,  William  H.  Stevens, 
John  T.  Miller,  William  H.  Rogers,  George 
W.  Rogers,  Louis  Layman,  Thomas  Farley, 
Frank  Heckler,  Thomas  Flockton,  John  W. 
Jacobus,  Samuel  Tait,  Thomas  Stapleton, 
Frank  Burke,  Richard  H.  Jackson,  George 


560  NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

Loughlin,    Peter  J.    L.  Searing,  Robert  Brad 
ley,    George  Teller   and  John  Hassall. 

Upon  arriving  at  the  Capitol  the  detachment 
was   met   by  an  official  messenger,  who    con 
ducted  them  to  the  Executive  Chamber  where 
they    were    received    by    the    Governor    with 
Adjutant-General     Andrews     and     others     of 
his    staff.       Owing    to    the    unavoidable    ab 
sence    of    the    President    of    the   Association, 
Captain  James  R.  Whiting,  the  duty  of  form 
ally  turning   over   the  flags   to    the   State,  de 
volved    upon    Lieut.    Matthew  J.  Graham,  the 
Vice-President.      By    his    directions    Comrade 
Flockton,  who   had   been    chief-bugler   of  the 
Ninth,   sounded  "  the  assembly  "  on  the  same 
old  bugle  to  the  sound  of  which  the  survivors 
present  had  so  many  times  responded  during 
their  term  of  service.      At  the  "  call  "  the  Gov 
ernor  and  staff  placed  themselves  in    front  of 
the  executive  desk,  the  delegation  of  survivors 
forming   a  semi-circle,    facing    them     with  the 
flags  in  the  center.     Lieutenant  Graham  made 
a  brief  address.     He  stated  the  purpose  which 
brought  them  there  and  expressed  the  regrets 
which  he  and  his  comrades,  both  present  and 
absent,  felt  that   the  time    had  at  last  arrived 
when  they  were  to  be  finally  and  forever  sep 
arated  from  their  old  colors;    but  that  regret, 
he  said,  was  tempered  and  made  less  acute  by 


GIVING  UP  THE  FLAGS.     THE  SPEECHES.         S61 

the  knowledge,  which  was  both  gratifying  and 
satisfactory,  that  they  were  being  turned  over 
to  the  custody  of  the  State  at  a  time  when 
the  Chief  Executive  was  himself  a  soldier-com 
rade  who  had  also  "  bared  his  brow  full  in 
Death's  face,"  while  upholding  his  country's 
flag  and  carrying  it  forward  to  victory  ;  who 
could  fully  appreciate  the  feelings  of  soldiers 
who  were,  it  might  be  said,  attending  the  funeral 
of  their  flags ;  that  he  and  his  comrades 
of  the  old  regiment,  while  they  resigned  the 
custody  of  these  relics  reluctantly,  still  had  the 
satisfying  reflection  that  as  they  hung  in  their 
places  in  the  chamber  to  which  they  were  to  be 
consigned,  they  would  serve  as  an  object  lesson 
to  the  youth  of  the  State  who  might  gaze  upon 
them,  from  which  they  might  gather  inspira 
tions  of  patriotism  and  love  of  country  which 
would — should  the  time  ever  come  when  their 
services  were  needed — cause  them  to  emulate 
the  deeds  of  the  men  who  followed  these  flags 
on  the  battlefields  of  the  Nation. 

The  Governor  in  reply  said  he  was  more 
gratified  than  he  could  express  to  be  permitted 
to  receive  these  colors  and  to  offer  homage  to 
the  men  who  had  upheld  them  so  valiantly 
through  the  bloody  period  of  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion ;  that  while  he  had  been  a  soldier  it 
was  in  a  "  little  war;"  that  he  fully  realized  the 


562   NINTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 

difference  between  the  so-called  war  in  which 
the  country  had  just  been  engaged  and  the 
tremendous  struggle  in  which  the  men  before 
him  had  participated ;  that  the  greatest  regret 
of  his  life  had  always  been  that  he  had  not 
arrived  at  an  age  when  he  could  have  taken 
part  in  that  struggle ;  and  that  the  height  of 
his  ambition  would  have  been  reached  and 
his  cup  of  satisfaction  filled  if  fate  had  per 
mitted  him  to  earn  the  right  to  wear  a  Grand 
Army  button  and  to  call  the  other  wearers 
thereof  comrades. 

All  this  was  said  in  his  own  intensely  earnest 
manner,  and  in  a  way  that  was  very  gratifying 
to  the  men. 

Lieutenant  Graham  then  introduced  Major 
Debevoise,  who  in  a  feeling  and  impres 
sive  manner  sketched  the  history  of  the  regi 
ment,  recounting  some  of  the  scenes  through 
which  it  and  the  old  flags  had  passed,  after 
which  Flockton  was  called  upon  and  sounded 
"taps,"  at  which  there  were  many  suspiciously 
moist  eyes,  and  the  old  colors  wrere  borne  a\vay. 

Governor  Roosevelt  then  expressed  a  wish 
to  be  presented  to  each  of  the  survivors  present 
personally.  This  duty  devolved  upon  Major 
Homer,  who  introduced  each  comrade,  who 
received  a  cordial  handshake  and  a  few  pleas 
ant  words  from  the  Governor.  This  ended  the 


THE  LAST  OFFICIAL  ACT.  563 

ceremony,  and  after  a  short  time  spent  in  social 
converse  with  the  Governor  and  the  gentlemen 
of  his  staff,  the  delegation  departed  to  return  to 
New  York. 

Thus  ended  the  last  official  act  of  the  regi 
mental  organization,  as  the  recounting  of  the 
details  thereof  ends  this  history  of  the  Ninth 
New  York  Volunteers. 

THE    END. 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL  of  COLONEL  RUSH  C.  HAWKINS' 
QTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS  (Infantry) 
called  into  service  by  the  President  on  the  4th 
day  of  May  1861  for  two  years.  Mustered  out 
at  New  York,  N.  Y.,  by  reason  of  expiration  of 
term,  on  the  2oth  day  of  May,  1863. 

FIELD  AND  STAFF. 

MUSTERED    OUT   WITH    REGIMENT. 


COLONEL,. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Hawkins,  Rush  C. 

29 

May4,'61 

Colonel 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden 

N.  C. 

MAJOR. 


Jardine,  Edward  31       May4,'61        Captain       Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Promoted  major  Feb.  14,  1862. 


ADJUTANT. 


Bartholomew, 
Thomas  L. 

21 

May  4,  '61 

2d  Lieut. 
Co.  B. 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N. 
moted    1st   lieutenant,  April  20, 
jutant  Sept.  25,  1862. 

C.  ;  pro- 
1862,  ad- 

QUARTERMASTER. 


Parisen, 

Otto 

W. 

35 

Oct.  4, 

'62 

Q'rmaster 

SURGEON. 


Humphreys, 
George 

H. 

26 

May  4/61 

Surgeon 

ASSISTANT  SURGEON. 


Harding', 

William  L. 

24 

Aug.  20/62 

Asst. 
Surgeon 

570 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
REGIMENTAL  BAND. 

DRUM  MAJOR. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED, 

REMARKS  . 

WHEN.     |      HANK. 

Smith,  Charles  T. 

-• 

May  4,  '61 

Drum  Ma  j  . 

'Discharged,  May  26,  1861,  as  incompetent. 

BAND  LEADERS. 


Strachan,  James  C. 
Wallace  William  V. 

27 

Aug  30,'  61 
June  15,  '62 

Band 
Master 

Musterd  out  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  May  21 
18tt«. 
Discharged  by  Act  of  Congress,  1862. 

MUSICIANS. 

Barnes,  Cornelius 

Aug.  1,  '62 

Musician 

Discharged,  Dec.  17,  1862  at  Falniouth,  Va, 

Bernhardt,   Carl 

46 

Sept.  3,  '61 

" 

Discharged,  Oct.  11,  1862. 

Conway,  Martin 

Ellison,  William  J. 
Floctoii,  John  M. 

25 

22 
35 

Aug,  30,  '61 

"     30,  '61 
"      1,    '62 

« 

Taken  prisoner  at  Camden,  N.C.  ;  mustered 
out.  as  paroled  prisoner,  May  1,  1862,  at 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Discharged,  Oct.  11,  1862,  at  Pleasant  Val 
ley,  Md. 
Discharged,  Nov.  1,  1862,  at  Wheatland,  Va. 

Gier,  Friedrich 
Haines,  Thomas 

28 
19 

"     30,  '61  ! 
Sept.  15,  '62 

Discharged,  Oct.  13,  1862,  at  Pleasant  Val 
ley,  Md. 
Discharged,  Dec.  17,  1862,  at  Falmouth,  Va. 

Hoftmaim,L,udwig  A. 

Holland,  George 
Hughes,  William  H. 

Keefe,  William 
L,ent,  Harlan  L,. 

26 

30 
24 

31 
26 

Men.  18,  '62 

Aug.  30,  '61 
May  4,  '61 

Aug.  30,  '61 
"     30,'  61 

Private 

Musician 
<i 

Enlisted  in  103d  New  York  Infantry;  trans 
ferred  to  9th  New  York,  Aug.  11,  1862;  dis 
charged  Dec  17,  1862,  at  Falniouth,  Va. 
Discharged,   Aug    16,  1862,    at   Fredericks- 
burg,  Va 
Transferred  to   band,    Sept.    24,  1861;    dis 
charged  at  Falmouth,  Sta.,  Va.,  Aug.  22, 
1862. 
Discharged,    Feb.     28,     1862,    at    Roanoke 
Island. 
Discharged,  Aug.  16,  1862,  at  Falmouth,  Va. 

Lient,  Henry  D. 

42 

"     30,  '61 

" 

Discharged,  Feb.  28,  1862, 

Mar  veil,  Henry 

30 

"      I,  '62 

•• 

Discharged,  Feb.  17,  1862,  at  Falmouth,  Va. 

Mentz,  Charles 
Middleton,  George 

29 
21 

Mch.  12,  '62 
Aug.  30,  '61 

u 

Enlisted  in  the  103d  N.Y.V.;  transferred  to 
this  regiment;  discharged,  Nov.  17,1862, 
at  Warrenton  Sta.,  Va. 
Discharged,  Oct.  13,  1862. 

Miles,  John  T. 
Miller,  Jacob 

25 

May  4,  '61 
Aug.  1,  '61 

Private 
Co.  B. 

Musician 

Transferred  to  band,Oct.  1,1861  ;  discharged, 
Aug.  16,  1802,  at  Falmouth,  Va. 
Discharged,  no  date  given. 

Moss,  John  R. 

Rodgers,  Samuel  D. 
Shaw,  Orin  W. 
Seaton,  Daniel 

42 

34 

27 
21 

"     30,  '61 

"      30,  '61 
Oct.  3.  '62 
Aug.  30,  '61 

" 

Captured  at  Camden,  N.  C.  ;  mustered  out 
as  paroled  prisoner,  at  Washington,  D.C., 
May  21,  1862. 
Discharged,  Oct,  13,  1862,  at  Pleasant  Val 
ley,  Md. 
Discharged,  Nov.    17,    1862,    at  Warrenton 
Sta.,  Va 
Discharged,  Oct.  11,  1862. 

Siinpkins, 
Cornelius  V. 
Steele,  Henry 

26 
35 

Sept.  3,  '61 
Aug.  30,  '61 

it 

" 

Discharged,  Oct.  11,  1862,  at  Pleasant  Val 
ley,  Md. 
Discharged,  Aug.  25,  1862,  at  Falmouth,  Va. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


371 


MUSICIANS.— Continued. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED  . 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Tonge,  Daniel 

19 

Oct.  3,  '62 

Musician 

Discharged,  Dec.  17,  1862,  at  Falmouth,  Va. 

Uphous,  Peter 

42 

Aug.  1,  '62 

»• 

Discharged,  Dec.  17,  1862,  at  Falmouth,  Va. 

Vives,  John 

38 

"     20,  '62 

« 

Discharged,  Dec.  17,  1862,  at  Falmouth,  Va. 

Wilbur,  Charles 

19 

Sept.  3,  '61 

" 

Discharged,  Aug.  23,  1862,  at  Falmouth,  Va. 

Wittchell. 
Christopher 
Worley,  Henry 

38 
21 

Nov.  21,  '61 
Sept.  15/62 

" 

Transferred  from  103d  N.Y.V.,  Aug.  11,  1862; 
discharged,  Dec.  17,  1862,  at  Falmouth,  Va. 
Discharged,  Nov.  1,  1863,  at  Wheatland.Va. 

S68 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 

FIEIvD  AND  STAFF.— Continued. 

DISCHARGED. 

LIEUT.  COLONEL. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.     |      RANK. 

Belts,  George  F. 

34 

May  4,  '61 

Lt.  Col. 

Resigned,  Feb.  14,  1862. 

ADJUTANT. 


Evans,  James  W. 

May  4,  '61 

Adjutant 

Resigned,  Feb.  23,  1862. 

Barnett,  George  A.  C. 

21 

i<        <  » 

1st  Lieut. 
Co.  B 

Appointed,  adjutant  June  18,18 
Sept.  24,  1862. 

62;  resigned, 

QUARTERMASTER. 


Elliott, 

Henry 

W. 

27 

May  4, 

'61 

Q'rmaster 

Resigned 

1862. 

to  enter 

regular 

army, 

Aug.  10, 

CHAPLAIN. 


Conway, 

Tliomas  W. 

May  4,'61 

Chaplain 

Resigned  Sept. 

4,  1862. 

ASSISTANT  SURGEONS. 


White, 

Jabez  P. 

P. 

-• 

May 

16, 

'61 

Asst 
Surgeon 

Promoted  surgeon  10th  New  York  Infantry 

•      May  13,  1862. 

DIED. 

LIEUT.  COLONEL. 


Kimball, 

Edgar 

A. 

38 

May  4 

,'61 

Major 

Promoted  lieutenant-colonel, 
killed  at  Suffolk,  Va.,  April 

Feb.  14, 

12,  1863. 

1862; 

ADJUTANT. 


Gadsden, 

Charles  A. 

30 

Mch,  5 

J2/62 

Adjutant 

Killed  in  action  at  Camden, 

N 

C. 

NO  RECORD. 

ASSISTANT   SURGEON. 


Buck, 

Ephraim 

W. 

36 

June  10/64 

Asst. 
Surgeon 

Colonel 
duty  ; 

Hawkins  declined 
no  further  record. 

to  assign  him  to 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


569 


NON-COMMISSIONED  STAFF. 
MUSTERED  OUT  WITH  REGIMENT. 

S  EKGE  ANT-MA  JOR. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Dusenberry, 
Augustus 

24 

May  12,'61 

Private 
Co.  C 

Promoted  corporal  June  1,  1861  ;  sergeant* 
Sept.  1,1861  ;  sergeant-major.  May  1,  1862; 
taken  prisoner  at  Antietam  ;  paroled  ; 
reported  to  Camp  Parde,  Md.  ;  exchanged; 
returned  to  regiment  Nov.  1862. 

QUARTERM  ASTER-SERGEANT. 


Pannes, 

John  B. 

23 

May  4 

,'61 

Private 
Co.  A. 

Promoted  corporal,  date  not  stated;   ser 
geant,    Oct.  14,  1861  ;   quarter-master-ser 
geant,  March  20,  1862  ;  wounded  in  action 
at  Antietam. 

COMMISSARY-SERGEANT. 


Knowlsoii,  Charles  F.     24       May  4,'61         Private       Promoted  sergeant,  Aug.  19,  1861;  comrnis1 

Co.  A  sary-sergeant,  Jan.  1,  1862. 


HOSPITAL  STEWARD. 


Grobecker, 

William 

June  1, 

'61 

Private 
Co.  A. 

Promoted  hospital 

steward, 

Nov 

4,  1861. 

MUSTER-OUT   ROLL   of   CAPT.  ANDREW  S.  GRAHAM'S  COMPANY  A, 

QTH    REGIMENT,  NEW    YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 
Mustered  out  with  the  company  on  the  2oth  day  of  May,  1863. 

CAPTAIN. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Graham,  Andrew  S. 

26 

May  4,  '61 

Captain 

Wounded  in  action,  at  Camden,  N 

C. 

1st   LIEUTENANT. 


Homer,  James  B. 

21 

May  4,  '61 

1st  Sergeant 
Co.  D. 

Promoted  2nd  lieutenant  Company  B,  April 
20,  1862;  transferred  to  Company  D,  Nov. 
22,  1862;  promoted  1st  lieutenant,  Jan.  30, 
1863;  transferred  to  this  company,  March. 
17,  1863. 

3d  LIEUTENANT. 


Jackson, 

Richard  H. 

19 

May  4, 

'61 

1st  Sergeant 
Co.  I. 

Promoted  2nd  lieutenant  Company  D,  Oct. 
29,  1862;  transferred  to  Company  H,  Nov. 
23,   1862;  and  to  this  company,   March  26, 
1863. 

1st  SERGEANT. 


Promoted  sergeant,  date  not   stated;   1st 

Forbes, 

Oliver  P. 

25 

May  4, 

'61 

Private 

sergeant,     May    25,    1862  ;    wounded     in 
action  at  Antietam;  absent  in  hospital; 

(died  of  wound,  May  31,  1863.) 

SERGEANTS. 


Allen,  James  W. 

May  14,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Jan.  1,  1862;  sergeant, 

Sept.  30,  1862. 

Gould,  John  D. 

25 

"        4, 

« 

Promoted  corporal,  Aug.  19,  1861  ;  sergeant, 

Oct.  14,  1861. 

Hardley,  Frank 

22 

14                 «i 

u 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  14,  1861  ;  sergeant, 

May  25,  1862. 

Stewart,  Joseph  I. 

23 

11                 « 

k' 

Promoted  sergeant,  April  11,  1863. 

CORPORALS. 


Bentley,  Thomas 

21 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  May  1,  1862. 

Miller,  Jacob 

27 

" 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  Aug.  19,  1861. 

Dreyfuss,  Gustav 

24 

"        " 

» 

Promoted  corporal,  Sept.  30,  1862. 

Stevens,  John  J. 

20 

"        " 

11 

Wounded    in    action,    at   Antietam  ; 
moted  corporal,  Sept.  30,  1862. 

pro- 

MUSICIANS. 


Horn,  Joseph 
Holwell,  James  A. 

20 
23 

May  4,  '61 

Bugler 
Drummer 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


573 


COMPANY  A. — Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Abbott,  Theodore 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Betts,  Theodore 

19 

" 

" 

Brill,  Jacob  C. 

19 

i< 

11 

Wounded,  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Brill,  Augustus  J. 
Dolan,  James 

22 
19 

"       " 

<t 

Captured  at  Fredericksburg,  Va.  ;  paroled; 
reported  at  Camp  Parole,  Md  ,May  5  1863. 

Drew,  Peter  L,. 
Eldredge,  George  W. 

19 
23 

:  : 

: 

Honorable  mention  by  Spec.  Ord.,  Reg. 
Qrs. 

Hd. 

Hyde,  Robert  R. 

22 

>. 

u 

Jacobus,  John  W. 

18 

Aug.  12,  '61 

11 

Kelly,  James 

20 

May  4,  '61 

» 

Kress,  Severin,. 
L,e  Roy,  Moses, 

20 

18 

,c 

,. 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C., 
at  Antietam,  Md. 

and 

Lyoii,  Charles 

21 

" 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietara. 

McConnell,  James 

24 

'  U              11 

it 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Mergan  thaler. 
Frank  C. 
Morse,  Charles  W. 

19 

u           »i 

u 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Muskulus,  John 

20 

.1 

'• 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Newcomb,  George  E. 

19 

" 

» 

Parker,  George 

28 

n           u 

11 

Roberts,  Ephraim  B. 

23 

" 

" 

Schweizer, 
Herman  C. 
Sherman,  Birdsey  Jj. 

22 

18 

u 

u 

Smith  William  M. 

18 

Jan.  7,  '62 

Drummer 

Snow,  Frederick  S. 

18 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Snow,  George  H. 

18 

i. 

'• 

Wounded  in  action  at  Roanoke  Island 

Stage,  Joseph 

22 

.1 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Stevens,  William  H. 

19 

.»        i. 

" 

Thompson,  Andrew 

24 

.. 

11 

Thompson,  John 

23 

.4 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Vanderburgh, 
Richard 
Volk,  William  H. 

28 
21 

U                  U 

« 

DISCHARGED. 

LIEUTENANT. 


Debevoise,  GeorgeW. 


May  4,  '61 


Sergeant 


Promoted  1st  sergeant,  June  25,  1861;  2nd 
lieutenant,  Nov  28,  1861;  wounded  in 
action  at  Roanoke  Island,  N.  C.;  pro 
moted  1st  lieutenant,  not  mustered;  dis- 
charged  Aug  23,  1872,  by  resignation. 


674 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


DISCHARGED. —COMPANY  A.— Continued. 


SERGEANTS. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHE.V. 

RANK. 

Nicholls,  Janats 
Feldman,  Christian 
Salisbury,  Albion  V. 

19 
20 
25 

May  4,  '61 
Aug.  22,  '61 

1st  Sergeant- 
Sergeant 
Private 

Reduced  to  the  ranks;  promoted  sergeant, 
date  not  stated  ;  discharged  for  disability, 
Aug.  19,  18fil. 
Discharged  for  disability,  Aug.  19,  1861. 
Promoted  corporal,  March,  1H62;  sergeant, 
date  not  stated;   wounded  in  action  at 
Antietam;     discharged     for     disability, 
April,  11,  1863. 

CORPORAL. 


Van  Duzer,  Daniel  T. 

23 

Aug.  23,  '61 

Private 

Promoted     corporal,    date     not     stated  ; 
wounded  in    action    at   Antietam;    dis 
charged  for  disability,  April  7,  1863. 

PRIVATES. 

Areson,  Stephen  M. 
Bom  m  er,  Peter 

24 

29 

Aug.  30,  '62 
May  4,  '61 

Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  25,1862; 
discharged  for  disability,  Dec.  31,  1862. 
Discharged  for  disability,  Aug.  19,  1861. 

Braitmayer,  Otto 

19 

u 

•• 

Discharged  for  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861  . 

Brazier,  William  S. 

22 

" 

u 

Discharged  for  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861  . 

Clarke  Samuel  J. 
Cooper,  William  S. 

30 
19 

Aug.  5,  '61 
May  4,  '61 

,. 

Wounded    in    action    at    Antietam;    dis 
charged  for  disability,  Jan.  10,  1863. 
Discharged  for  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861. 

Cutter,  J  olin 
Dickeiison,  Chas.  W. 

18 
21 

Aug.  7,  '61 
May  4,  '61 

u 

Discharged  for  disability,  at  Washington, 
D.  C.,  Jan.  23,  1863. 
Discharged  for  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861. 

Dickman,  Thomas 
Donovan,  Jeremiah 

Drake,  William  H. 
Edwards,  Joseph 

19 
23 

19 
20 

Aug.  14,  '62 
May  4,  '61 

» 

Wounded    in    action    at    Antietam  ;     dis 
charged  for  disability,  April  21,  1863. 
Wounded  in  action  at  Roanoke  Island,  N, 
C.;  discharged   for   disability,    April   22. 
1862. 
Woxinded   in     action     at    Antietam;    dis 
charged  for  disability,  Dec.  5,  1862. 
Discharged  for  disability,  Aug  19,  1861  . 

Eldridge,  John  H. 

25 

" 

" 

Discharged  for  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861. 

Freeman,  James  C. 
Haiselden,  George 
Hopkins,  Edward 
Hume,  Huthwaite 

25 

19 

18 

Aug.  22,  '61 
May  27,  '61 
May  4,  '61 

Private 
Co.  I. 

Musician 

Wounded  at  Antietam;    foot    amputated; 
discharged  for  disability,  Dec.  30,  18r.2 
Transferred  to  this  company,  Aug.  20,  1861, 
discharged  for  disability,  May  2,  1863. 
Discharged  for  disability,at  Riker's  Island, 
Mav  18,  1861. 
Discharged  for  disability,  Aug.  26,  1861. 

Jones,  Charles  E. 
Leach,  Daniel  W. 
Madden,  James 
May,  Marcus 
McManus,  John 
Redfield,   James  H. 

21 
19 
18 
21 
24 
23 

July  21,  '61 
July  30,  '61 
Aug.  6,  '61 
May  4,  '61 
Aug.  13,  '62 
May  4,  '61 

Private 

Discharged  for  disability,  at  Roanoke  Is 
land,  May  25,  1862. 
Wounded   in    action    at    Antietam  ;    dis 
charged  fordisabilitv,  Feb.  18,  1863. 
Discharged  for  disability,  Dec.  12,   1862,  at 
Fredericksburg,  Va. 
Wounded    at  Antietam;    leg   amputated  ; 
discharged  for  disability,  Jan.  16,  1863 
Wounded  at  Antietam;  discharged  for  dis 
ability.  March,  27,  1863. 
Discharged  for  disability,  Aug.  19,  1861. 

Relyea,  Alexander  L. 
Rivers,  Richard 

18 
24 

Aug.  20.  '61 
"     16,  '61 

„ 

Wounded    in    action    at    Antietam  ;    dis 
charged  for  disability,  Oct.  22,  1862. 
Discharged  for  disability,  March  21,  1863. 

Roberts,  George  W. 

19 

May  4,  '61 

" 

Discharged  April  23,  1863  ;  at  Providence, 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


575 


DISCHARGED. — COMPANY  A. — Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Roff,  George  W. 

26 

Aug.  23.  '61 

» 

Discharged,  date  not  stated. 

Schumacher,  Gustav 

27 

May  4,  '61 

" 

Discharged  for  disability,  Nov.  30,  1862. 

Sickles,  Benjamin  T. 

18 

" 

u 

Discharged  for  disability,  June  6,  1861. 

Spreen  \venburg, 
Jacob 
Stage,  David  L. 

Williams,  John  N. 

19 
24 
21 

May  26,  '61 

- 

Discharged  for  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861. 

Wounded    in    action    at    Antietam  ;   dis 
charged  for  disability.  Dec.  15,  1862. 
Discharged  for  disability,  Jan.  10,  1863. 

TRANSFERRED 
To  30  REGIMENT,  N.  Y.  Volunteer  Infantry,   May  6,   1863. 

CORPORALS. 


Bullinger,  Charles  E. 
Fitzgerald,  James  L,. 
Rotche,  Robert  A. 

20 
2^ 
19 

Aug.  24,  '61 
"     20,  '61 

"     21,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  April  8,  1863. 
Promoted  corporal,  Sept.  30,  1862. 
Promoted  corporal,  April  11,  1863. 

PRIVATES. 


Acker,  Burlin  M. 

20 

Aug.  21,  '61 

Private 

Adrian,  Robert  J. 

27 

"      15,  '62 

" 

Appleby,  William 

19 

"     13,  '62 

" 

Barker,  James  E. 
Bates,  William  H. 

22 

22 

Oct.  6,  '62 
Aug.  29,  '61 

Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  25,  186?. 

Boness,  John  N. 

24 

Sept.  3,  '61 

" 

Boness,  William 

27 

« 

11 

Dayis.  William 

23 

Oct.  1,  '61 

»• 

Dixon,  George 

30 

Aug.  10,  '61 

it 

Dobbs,  Andrew  B. 

19 

11      19,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Doughty,  Zeblon, 

24 

"     27,  '62 

" 

Fitzgerald. 
Michael  E. 
Foster,  George  A. 

25 
24 

"     12,  '61 
"      26,  '61 

.. 

Galvin,  John 

27 

"     20,  '62 

" 

Gilley,  John 

25 

u     20,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Harvey,  John  S. 
Henry,  Luther 

22 

19 

Oct.  6,  '62 
Aug.  5,  '61 

Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct  25,  1862. 

Heron,  John 

25 

"     17,  '61 

" 

Jones,  Humphrey  D. 

20 

"     27,  '62 

" 

Transferred  to  Morris'  Battery,  May  3,  '63. 

576 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


TRANSFERRED.— COMPANY  A.— Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.      |      RANK. 

Jordan,  Stephen  Li. 

18 

Aug.  27,  '62 

Private 

Kalhar,  James 

28 

"     13,  '62 

" 

Mott,  John  W. 

25 

"       5,  '61 

" 

Mullen,  Henry 

24 

Sept.  3,  '61 

" 

O'Brien,  John 

24 

Aug.  23,  '61 

Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  26,    1862: 

Ramsey,  George 

22 

Sept.  1,  '62 

Co.  I. 
Private 

transferred  to  Morris1  Battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Seguine,  Joseph  G. 

21 

Aug.  26,'  62 

» 

Skidmore,  Eugene  H. 

19 

July  27,  '61 

11 

Suiften, 

19 

"      30,  '61 

u 

Mortimore  M. 

Stinsoii,  William 

29 

Aug.  20,  '62 

Private 

Wounded   in  action  at  Antietam  ;    trans 

Vandervoort, 
Richard 

30 

"      15,  '61 

" 

ferred  to  Morris'  Battery,  May  3,  1863  ; 
Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Vervaleii  , 

19 

"      13,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Abraham  D. 

Vincilette,  Edward 

29 

"     23,  '61 

" 

DIED. 

SERGEANT. 


Watson,  James  H. 

23 

Sept.  2,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct  14,  1861  ;  sergeant, 
Jan.  9,  1862;  killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

CORPORALS. 

Cameron,  Robert  H. 
Van  Cott,  David 

23 
25 

May  4,  '61 

41      4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  14,    1861;  died  of 
disease,  Nov.  30,  1861. 
Promoted  corporal,   Aug.  19,  1861;    died  of 
wound  received  in  action   at  Antietam, 
Sept.  29,  1862 

PRIVATES. 

Banta,  William  H. 
Bennett,  Charles 

19 
21 

May  4,  '61 
Aug.  23,  '62 

Private 
Co.  F. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  June  1,  1861  ; 
killed  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Eavers,  James 

31 

"     13,  '61 

" 

Died  at  Camp  Wool,  Hatteras  Inlet. 

Hildebrant,  Geo.  H. 

July  22,  '62 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Ott,  Jacob 

19 

May  26,  '61 

" 

Died  at  Camp  Wool,  Hatteras  Inlet. 

Stephens,  John  G. 

19 

Aug.  15,  '62 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Turner  Joseph  G. 

43 

June  20,  '61 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Voorhees, 
Jeremiah  F. 
Walter,  Charles  H. 

20 
22 

May  4,  '61 
"      4,  '61 

» 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C.  ;  died 
while  at  home  on  furlough. 
Died  of  woxind  received  in  action    at  Cam 
den,  N.  C. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


577 


COMPANY  A. — Continued. 

DESERTED. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Alpers,  Henry  W. 
Dodson,  William 

22 

11 

May  4,  '61 
"     4,  '61 

Corporal 
Private 

Transferred  from  Company  C.Sept.  15,  1861  ; 
deserted,  Aug.  20,  1862 
Deserted  at  Ricker's  Island,  May  20,  1861. 

Rogers,  George  L,. 

28 

"     4,  '61 

" 

Deserted  at  Ricker's  Island,  May  30,  1861. 

Whitmore. 
Thomas  F. 

19 

"     4,  '61 

" 

Deserted  at  New  York  City,  June  5,  1861. 

NOT  PRESENT. 


l>uell,  James 
Topping,  Robert  R. 

30 

18 

Aug.  26 
May  4, 

,'62 
'61 

Private 

Taken  prisoner  at  Antietam;  paroled  and 
exchanged,  no  further  record. 
Taken  prisoner  at  Antietam;  paroled  and 
exchanged,  no  further  record. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL  of  CAPT.  WILLIAM  G.   BARNETT'S  COMPANY  B. 

9TH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 
Mustered  out  with  the  company,  on  the  2oth  day  of  May,  1863. 

CAPTAIN. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Barnett,  William  G. 

24 

May  4,  '61 

Captain 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietarn. 

1st  LIEUTENANT. 


Herbert, 

George 

H. 

25 

May  4, 

'61 

1st. 

Sergeant 

Promoted   2d   lieutenant 
1st  lieutenant,  Nov.  14, 

,   Dec. 

1864. 

23d, 

1861; 

3d  LIEUTENANT. 


I>ews,  Edwin 


Promoted     1st    sergeant,     Dec.     23,    1861; 
22    |  May  4, '61  I    Sergeant    I     wounded    in  action  at  Antietam;    pro 
moted  2d  lieutenant,  Sept.  30th,  1862. 


SERGEANTS. 


Rogers,  William  J. 
Smith,  Edgar  A. 

19 
24 

May  4,  '61 

Private 
Sergeant 

Promoted  corporal,  May  1, 
in  action  at  Antietam; 
geant,  Jan.  1,  1863. 

1862;  wounded 
promoted   ser- 

Miller,  John  T. 

25 

" 

" 

Murray,  George 

22 

" 

Corporal 

Promoted  sergeant,  Jan.  1, 

1862. 

CORPORALS. 


Boltz,  Michael 

19 

May  4, 

'61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  1,  1862. 

Molloy,  Albert  W. 

21 

" 

1 

" 

Promoted   corporal,  Nov.  15,  1862. 

Rassiga,  Augustus 

19 

Aug.  26 

,'61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden, 
moted  corporal    Oct.   1,  186^. 

N.  C.;  pro- 

Roeder,  Charles  R. 

19 

May  4, 

'61 

•• 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam 

;  promoted 

corporal,  Jan.  1,  1863. 

Wehmaii,  Clemens 

29 

u 

Piomoted  corporal,  Jan.  1,  1863 

MUSICIANS. 


Avey,  Timothy 

Langbein, 
J.  C.  Julius 

16 
15 

Jan.  5,  '62 
May  4,  '61 

Musician 
Drummer 

Transferred  from  103d  New  York,  Jan.  15, 
1863. 
Received  medal  of  honor  for  gallantry  at 
Camden,  N,  C. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


579 


COMPANY  B— Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.          RANK. 

Aclair,  John  B. 

30 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Andeson,  Mott 

19 

u 

" 

Atkinson,  Thomas 

19 

"        " 

» 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Burgh,   Adolph 

22 

.. 

... 

Carpenter,Ed  ward  E. 

20 

" 

•l 

Degeman,  David  D. 

18 

.. 

'• 

Ditterlen,   Louis 

18 

" 

Dorber,  George 

20 

" 

Dysert,  John  W. 

24 

u 

" 

Enever,  Hugh 

23 

Fisher,  Thomas 

20 

i 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Godfrey,  Edward 

22 

„ 

Good,  Michael 

20 

'• 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Grant,  Richard 

22 

u           ,, 

•« 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Greer,  George  W. 

18 

" 

" 

Hampson,  John  H. 

19 

u          » 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Haring,  David  C. 

20 

Aug.  5,  '61 

' 

Mustered  out  to  date  August  5,  1863  . 

Harris,  Spencer  L,. 

May  30,  '61 

» 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Hyatt,  James  H. 

21 

May  4,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Johnson,  John  F. 

22 

„ 

" 

Low,  James 

22 

••       " 

» 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

M  alcom,  Joseph 

19 

.. 

'• 

Michell,  Francis  D. 

19 

» 

11 

Neil,  James 

19 

"      G,  '61 

" 

Newell,  Garry  T. 

"      4    '(SI 

Oshorne,  Samuel 

20 

" 

«• 

Discharged  for  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861,  at 
Newport  News,  Va.;  re-enlisted  Jan.  21, 

1862;  wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Parker,  George 

18 

"        " 

** 

Parker,  James 

19 

.. 

'• 

Pfaffle,  Frederic 

20 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam, 

Porter,  Albert  E. 

18 

" 

" 

Reed,  Thomas 

31 

u 

» 

Roberts,  John  H. 

20 

u 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

See,  John 

19 

.1 

Spooner,   Arthur 

26 

U                 li 

11 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Stanton,  Michael 

19 

"            u 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Thomas,    Albert 

24 

u 

«. 

Wounded   in   action  at    Roanoke  Island, 

N.  C. 

S80 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
COMPANY  B. — Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED, 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Wagner,  Peter 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Wettlaufer,  John 

18 

.. 

11 

Whitney,  Isaac 

23 

"       *« 

" 

TRANSFERRED 

To  313  RKGIMKNT,  N.  Y.  Volunteer  Infantry,   May  6,   1863. 

1st  SERGEANT. 


Schmidt,  Hugo 


34     Aug.  15, '61      Private        Promoted  corporal,  Jan.  1,1862;  sergeant, 
May  1,  1862;  1st  sergeant,  Nov.  24,  1862. 


SERGEANT. 


Cornell, 

George  D. 

28 

Aug 

16, 

'61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  11 
Nov.  24,  1862;  transferred 
sioned  staff. 

,  1861;  sergeant, 
to  non-cornrnis- 

CORPORALS. 


Bailey, 

William 

H. 

19 

Aug.  10, 

'61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Jan. 

1, 

1863; 

wounded 

in  action  at  Antietam. 

Farrell, 

George 

W. 

19 

"      12, 

'(11 

11 

Promoted  corporal,  May 

1, 

1862; 

wounded 

in  action  at  Antietam, 

Parker, 

Smith  S 

40 

July  1, 

Y,1 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  April 

11, 

1862. 

PRIVATES. 


Brill,  John  N. 

23 

Sept.  22,  '62 

Private 

Cairns,  John  A. 

19 

"     26,  '62 

11 

Collins.  John  M. 

June  2,  '61 

" 

Creech,  John 

21 

Sept.  27,  '62 

" 

Doyle,  John  J. 

21 

Aug.  16,  '61 

" 

Folan,  James  H. 

21 

June  2,  '61 

" 

Hamilton,  Joseph 

19 

Aug.  17,  '61 

" 

Hines,  William 
Howard,  George 
Hogan,  John  J. 
Hubhell,  Silliman  J. 

20 
21 
19 

June  2,  '61 
Sept.  2,  '61 
Aug.  22,  '62 
"     12,  '61 

Private 
Co.  I. 
Private 

Wounded  by  accident  at  Newport  News, 
Va. 
Sentenced  by  general  court  martial  to  con 
finement  in  Rip  Raps. 
Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  26,  1862. 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Johnson,  Robert 

21 

"      16,  '61 

u 

To  Company  B,  15th  Michigan  Infantry. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


581 


TRANSFERRED.— COMPANY  B.— Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.     |      RANK. 

Kane,  Michael 

20 

Sept.  27,  '62 

Private 

Kiiowles,  John  W. 

29 

"     24,  '62 

" 

McCarty,  Alexander 

19 

"     26,  '62 

" 

Moran,  James  E. 
Pfaffle,  William 

21 
21 

"      12,  '62 
Aug.  27,  '61 

Private 
Co.  I. 

Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  26,  1862  ; 
wounded   in   action   at   Fredericksburg, 
Ya. 
Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Rogers,  George  W. 

18 

Sept  23,  '62 

" 

Schlecht,  Charles 

19 

u     26,  '62 

" 

Schooiimaker, 
Andrew 

34 

Aug.  15,  '61 

it 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Simpson,  William  H. 

18 

"     20,  '61 

u 

Smith,  John 

34 

"     22,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietara  . 

Travis,  William  W. 

18 

"      19,  '61 

" 

Wightman, 
Edward  K. 

27 

"     30,  '62 

" 

DISCHARGED. 

SERGEANT. 


Whitney,  John  H.  E. 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Corporal 

Promoted     sergeant;     date    not    stated; 
wounded    in   action   at   Antietam;    dis 
charged  for  disability,  June  4,  1863. 

MUSICIAN. 

McClelland,  Michael      16 

May  4,  '61 

Musician 

May  20,  1861,  for  disability. 

PRIVATES. 

Bogart,  John  A, 

Buckmaster, 
Robert  M. 
Cordnan,  Morgan 

Cortelyou, 
William  H. 
Eagleson,  William 

22 
31 
21 
19 
24 

May  4,  '61 

Aug.  10,  '61 
May  4,  '61 

Corporal 
Private 

Aug.  31,  1862,  by  promotion  to  lieutenant- 
colonel  127th  New  York  Infantry. 
May  2,  1363,  for  disability,  at  Ladies'  Home 
Hospital,  New  York. 
Aug.  20,  1861,  for  disability. 
Wounded  in  action  and  captured  at  Cam- 
den,  N.  C.;  leg  amputated;  discharged 
for  disability,  May  20,  1863. 
May  20,  1861,  for  disability. 

French,  BanjaminH. 
Haggett,  Samuel 
Jones  A.  H. 
Madden,  Martin 

24 

22 
19 

u     30,  '61 

4,  '61 

» 

Nov.  29.  1862,  for  disability,   at  Philadel 
phia,  Pa. 
Aug.    21,    1861,  for  disability,  at  Newport 
News,  Va. 
Jan.  20,    1863,  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  for  disa 
bility. 
Nov.  18,  1861,  at  Hatteras,  for  disability. 

582 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


DISCHARGED.— COMPANY   B.— Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Messinger,  Peter  A. 
Miller,  Charles  R. 

Morgan,  Albert 
Palmer,  Thomas  A. 

Rowe,   Henry 

19 
22 

19 
22 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Sept.  13,  '62 
Aug.  9,  '61 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Aug.   20,  1861,  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  for 
disability. 
Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C.;  dis 
charged.  Jan.  8,  1863,  at  Falmouth,  Va., 
for  disability. 
Jan.    5,  1863,  at  Falmouth,  Va.,  for  disa 
bility. 
Wounded  in   action   at   Roanoke   Island, 
N.  C  ;  discharged  Jan.  3,  1863,  at  Wash 
ington,  D.  C.,  for  disability. 
Aug.  30,  1862,  for  disability. 

Ryiies,  James 

18 

Aug.  6,  '61 

"              June  9,  1862,  for  disability. 

Sampson,  John  A. 

19 

"     10,  "61 

11 

June  9,  1862,  for  disability. 

Sill,  Byron  G. 
Smith,  William  H. 

Valliere,  Michael 
Winchell,  George  AV. 

19 
21 
22 

May  4,  '61 
Aug.  2,  '61 

July  31,  '61 
June  2,  '61 

» 

Captured  at  Antietam  ;  confined  at  Rich 
mond;   paroled;   discharged   as  paroled 
prisoner,  Nov.  8,  1862. 
Dishonorably  discharged   by   sentence  of 
general   court   martial,   June  16,    1862— 
(Drummed  out). 
For  disability,  March  22,  1862,  at  Roanoke 
Island,  N.  C. 
For   disability,    July   3,  1861,  at  Newport 
News. 

DESERTED. 

PRIVATES. 

Allen,   Montague 
Barry,  David 

24 

May  4,  '61 
Oct.  4,  '62 

Private 

April  15,  1862,  at  General  Hospital,  Fortress 
Monroe.  Va. 
Nov.  22,  1862. 

Bright,  Henry 
Conroy,  John 

23 
20 

May  4,  '61 

:: 

March  1,  1863,  at  general  hospital,  Fortress, 
Monroe,  Va 
May  25,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y. 

Jones,  Robert 

22 

" 

" 

May  10,  1861,  at  New  York  City. 

O'Connor,  Michael 

21 

,i 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C.  ;  de- 

DIED. 

PRIVATES. 


Corte/,  John  A. 

21 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Ginther,  William 

32 

Aug.  17,  '61 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Hutchinson,  Harold 

22 

May  4,  '61 

11 

Killed  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Lindtner,  Mathias 

19 

"        " 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


583 


DIED.— COMPANY  B.— Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Moser,  William  S. 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Died  of  wounds  received  at  Antietam. 

Rassiga,  Eugene 

18 

U                 it 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Roseberry, 
Thomas  H. 
Schaeft'er,  John 

18 
22 

Aug.  5,  '61 

"      17,  '61 

(i 

Died  of  disease,  Dec.  16,  1862,  at  Falmouth, 
Va. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Spicer,  Napoleon  B. 

21 

May  2,  '61 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

MISSING  IN  ACTION. 


PRIVATE. 


Hewett, 

Elias 

18 

July  31, 

'61 

Private 

At 

Antietam  ; 

no 

further 

record. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL   of   CAPT.  VICTOR   KLINGSOEHR'S   COMPANY   C, 
9TH  REGIMENT,   NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEER  INFANTRY. 
Mustered  out  with  the  company,   May  2oth,  1863. 

CAPTAIN. 


NAME. 

AGE 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Klingsoehr,  Victor 

May  4,  '61 

2d  Lieut. 
Co.  A. 

Promoted 
wounded 
captain, 

1st 
in 
Aug 

lieutenant 
action   at 
10,  1862. 

,    Dec.    24, 
Camden,  N 

1861; 
C.; 

1st   LIEUTENANT. 


Powell, 

Frank 

22 

May  4, 

'61 

Sergeant 

Promoted  2nd  lieutenant, 
1st  lieutenant,  Nov.  1st 

March, 

,  1862. 

15, 

1862; 

3d  LIEUTENANT. 


Jacobshon, 

Louis 

29 

May  4, 

'61 

Sergeant 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam  ; 
2nd  lieutenant,  Oct.  22,  1862. 

promoted 

1st  SERGEANT. 


Geayer, 

James 

A. 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Sergeant 

Promoted   1st  sergeant.   March 
wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

18,    1862; 

SERGEANTS. 


Cooley,  Dawson  W. 
Field,  Joshua  C. 

Malcolm,  Samuel  L. 
Witz,  Joseph 

21 
21 

19 
21 

May  4,  '61 

Corporal 
Private 

Promoted  sergeant,  June  1,  1861;  reduced, 
Oct.  31,  1862;  promoted  corporal,  Jan.  3, 
1863;  sergeant,  Feb.  12,  1863. 
Promoted  corporal,  Sept.  1,  1861;  sergeant, 
Oct     31.    1862;    wounded    in     action     at 
Antietam. 
Promoted  corporal,  Aug.  11,  18G2;  sergeant, 
Jan.  1,  1863. 
Promoted  corporal,  May  5,  1861;  sergeant, 
Junel,  1861. 

CORPORALS. 


Fox,  Frederick 
Koch,  Edward 
Lloyd,  William 
Morschanser,  John  A . 


19 


19 


May  4,  '61 


Private 


Sergeant 


Promoted  corporal,  Feb.  12,  1863. 
Promoted  corporal,  Jan.  1,  1863. 
Promoted  corporal,  Jan.  1,  1863. 

Transferred  from  Company  F  as  private, 
May  1,  1862;  promoted  corporal,  Oct.  31, 
1862. 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


885 


COMPANY  C. — Continued. — Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 
CORPORALS. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Murray,  James 

24 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Jan.  1,  1863. 

Roe,  Charles 

31 

ii 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  Sept.  1,  1862. 

Van  Amburg,  John 

18 

" 

11 

Promoted  corporal,  Feb.  12,  1863. 

Witterman,  Adam 

21 

"        " 

11 

Promoted  corporal,  Feb.  12,  1863. 

MUSICIANS. 

Relck,  Theodore 
Blinn,  William  H. 

16 
21 

Oct.  14,  '61 
July  31,  '61 

Drummer 
103d  N.  Y. 
Private 

Transferred  to  Company  C,  this  regiment, 
Jan.  15,  1863. 
Appointed  bugler  in  May,  1862. 

PRIVATES. 


Aber,  William  B. 

June  1,  '61 

Private 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Alberts,  Robert  H. 
Beeler,  Joseph 

22 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Corporal 
Private 

Regimental     commissary    sergeant    from 
Sept.  1,  1861,  to  June  16,  1862. 
Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Bennett,  Alfred 

20 

"       " 

11 

Casey,  James  A. 

18 

.<       ii 

11 

Caster,  Edward 

18 

" 

11 

Chandler,  Charles  L,. 
Clerihew,  Paul  J. 

32 

21 

i< 

: 

Quartermaster  sergeant  from  Dec.  5,  1861, 
to  March  19,  1862. 
Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Crawford,  StephenH. 

21 

.. 

Corporal 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Cross,  Frank 

19 

i« 

Private 

Cunningham,  John 

19 

" 

" 

Doyle,  Patrick  J. 

25 

ii       «i 

11 

Duffy,  James 

19 

"    12,  '61 

11 

Dwight,  Delos 

20 

"      4,  '61 

11 

Flam,  John 

20 

ii        11 

" 

Flowers,  James  W. 

26 

" 

11 

Frederick,  Gustavus 

19 

"        n 

" 

Gass,  Phillip, 

20 

"        " 

** 

Gausmanii,  John  H. 

19 

"        " 

11 

Johnson,  Redmond 

21 

i, 

" 

Kennedy,  Edward 

21 

"      6,  '61 

11 

Kilmer,  Moses  C. 

19 

"      4,  '61 

" 

Lindner,  Nicholas 

19 

ii 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  Sept.  1,  1861. 

MacNab,  Alexander 

18 

"        " 

11 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

S86 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


COMPANY  C. — Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.     |      RANK. 

Madigaii,  Daniel 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

McCabe,  George 

18 

Aug.  12,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Meyers,  Martin 

Morehead, 
William  R. 
Morscliauser,  George 

23 
19 

18 

:  : 

: 

Wounded  in   action  at   Camden,    N.   C.; 
promoted  corporal,  June  16,  1862. 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

O'Brien,  Daniel 

19 

u 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Opdyke,  Samuel 

25 

" 

11 

Pauly,  Christian 

20 

« 

" 

Ryan,  John 

19 

" 

" 

Stephens,  Elsden  B. 
Taylor,  Henry  W. 
Thomas,  Charles  E. 

19 
35 
21 

.4                   U 

Private 
Co.  K. 
Private 

Promoted  corporal,  June  20,  1862;  wounded 
in  action  at    Antietam. 
Transferred  to  this  company,  May  6,  1861. 

Vaiiderwerken, 
George 
Weber,  Andrew 

20 

21 

i*             U 

Private 
Co.  I 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  May  5,  1861  . 

Witz,  Paul 

23 

" 

11 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

TRANSFERRED 
To  30  REGIMENT,  N.  Y.  Volunteer  Infantry,  May  6,  1863. 


PRIVATES. 


Aston,  John 

18 

Sept.  2,  '61 

Private 

Brannon,  John   J. 

19 

Aug.  16,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Breitnoii,  John 

21 

H     12,  '61 

" 

Bridges,  Richard 

35 

4,  '61 

" 

Campbell,  James 

21 

Oct.  15,  '62 

" 

Cruden,  Alexander  B. 

18 

Aug.  19,  '62 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Curtin,  Robert  R. 

25 

"      15,  '62 

»' 

Davis,  William  II. 

19 

Oct.  22,  '62 

" 

Degenhardt,HenryA. 

28 

Aug.  12,  '62 

" 

Farrell,  Michael 

21 

"     23,  '61 

»• 

Greenhalgh,  Squire 

22 

"      12/61 

«« 

Hay  ward,  Leonard  II 

21 

"      10,  '61 

Hopkins,  Edward 

20 

Oct.  14,  '62 

" 

Johnson,  David 

24 

Aug.  2,  '61 

" 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
TRANSFERRED.— COMPANY  C.     Continued. 

PRIVATES. 


887 


NAME 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Keenan,  Phillip 

21 

Oct.  23,  '62 

•• 

Lambrccht,  Phillip 

16 

Aug.  12,  '61 

" 

Lotan,  James 

18 

i. 

11 

Madden,  George 

20 

"     23,  '61 

" 

Madden,  William  A. 

21 

Sept.  20,  '62 

" 

McCullough,  Francis 

24 

Aug.  22,  '61 

" 

McSherry,  Matthew 

19 

Oct.  15,  '62 

« 

Transferred   to   Morris'   battery,    May  3. 

•lOfiq                                                                                                                                                   J 

McCready,  William 

29 

Aug.  15,  '61 

" 

lODO. 

Munson,  Sam'l  T.  Jr. 

21 

Sept.  13,  '62 

" 

Randolph, 
Thomas  F. 
Reaycraft,  James 

23 

27 

Aug.  5,  '61 
"    20,  '61 

: 

Rhodes,  Benjamin 

19 

Oct.  22,  '62 

" 

Ridley,  Frederick 

26 

"      9,  '62 

« 

Tomsen,  Franz 
Travis,  Francis 

21 
19 

Aug.  1,  '61 
Oct.  15,  '62 

« 

Transferred    to   Company    "L,"    1st  New 
York  Cavalry,  Aug.  19,  1862. 

DISCHARGED. 

CAPTAIN. 


Parisen,  Otto  W. 

35 

May  4,  '61 

Captain 

Discharged,  Aug  10,  1862,  to  accept  position 
of  quartermaster,  this  regiment. 

3d  LIEUTENANT. 

Mitchell,  John  D. 

19 

May  4,  '61 

2d  Lieut. 

Discharged,  Sept.  22,  1861,  by  resignation. 

SERGEANT. 

Stites,  Benjamin 

24 

May  12,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Sept.  1,  1861;  sergeant, 
June  20,  1862;  wounded  in  action  at  An- 
tietam;  discharged  for  disability,  Dec. 
4,  1862. 

CORPORALS. 


Curie,  Charles 
Livingston,  Thomas 

19 
21 

May  4,'61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  March  5,    1862;  wound 
ed  in  action  at  Antietam  ;  discharged  for 
promotion  to  1st  lieutenant  178th    New 
York  Volunteers. 
Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  1,  1861;  wounded 
in   action  at   Antietam;  discharged    for 
disability,  Jan.  10,  1863. 

588 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


DISCHARGED.— COMPANY  C.— Continued. 


MUSICIANS. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Kies, 

Edwin  H. 

21 

May  4,  '61 

Musician 

Nov.    14,   1861,   by   enlistment 
steward,  U.  St  Army. 

as  hospital 

Baese 

,  Otto 

16 

"       u 

11 

May  8,  1861,  for  disability. 

PRIVATES. 


Beese,  Kmil 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Wounded    in    action    at   Antietam;  dis 

Bradley,  Felix 

20 

Aug.  20,  '61 

.4 

charged  for  disability,  Oct.  11,  1862. 
For  disability,  Aug.  23,  1862,  at  Falmouth 

Station,  Va. 

Chandler,  John  W. 

20 

May  4,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Aug.  19,  1861. 

Crookson,  Joseph  A. 

35 

Aug.  5,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Dec.  11,  1862,    at  Falmouth 

Station,  Va. 

Cunningham, 

21 

May  4,  '61 

44 

Captured  on  board  the  "Fanny"   Oct.    1, 

William 

1861  ;    mustered  out   as  prisoner  of  war, 

May  1,  18G2,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dale,  Samuel, 

21 

For  disability,  Aug.   2,   1861,  at  Newport 
News,  Va. 

Davis,  John 

23 

Oct.  23,  '62 

For  disability,  Feb.  18/1863,  at  Washington, 
D.  C. 

Goldsmith  Lewis 

20 

May  4,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  May  8,  1861,  at  New  York. 

Hallowell,  Joseph 

21 

Aug.  16,  '61 

(4 

Wounded    in     action    at    Antietam;   dis 

charged  for  disability,  March  4,  1863. 

Hassall,  John 

21 

May  4,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Sept,  12,  1862,  at  Falmouth 

Station,  Va. 

Havens,  John  R. 

21 

4  4                44 

U 

Captured  on  board  the  "Fanny,"  Oct.  1, 

1861  ;    discharged   as   paroled    prisoner, 

May  21,  1862,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Havens,  William  A. 

25 

For  disability,    Aug.  19,   1861,  at  Newport 
News,  Va. 

Hudson,  William  S. 

20 

44                 44 

'' 

Discharged  for  promotion  to  first  lieuten 

ant  49th  New  York,  May  29,  1«62. 

Matile,  Edward 

20 

"                 " 

" 

For  disability,   Aug.  19,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Munn,  Theodore  B. 

18 

Aug.  12,  '61 

•  ' 

Writ  of  habeas  corpus  at  Philadelphia,  Sept. 

27,  1862. 

Page,  Joseph  E.  K. 

22 

44                 44 

11 

Captured  aboard  the  "  Fanny,11  Oct.  1.  1861  ; 

discharged,  as  paroled  prisoner,  May  21, 
1862,  at  Washington,  D.C. 

Patterson,  George 

19 

May  4,  '61 

4i 

Discharged,  May  4,  1863,  at  Providence,  R.I 

Pease,  William  R. 

22 

44 

" 

For  disability,  Aug.   19,  1861,  at   Newport 

News,  Va. 

Rowan,  John 

23 

44                 44 

»• 

Captured  on  board  the  "Fanny.11  Oct.  1, 

Seggee,  Zachariah 

33 

Aug.  2,  '61 

44 

1861;  discharged  as  paroled  prisoner,  May 
21,  1862,  at  Washington,  D.C. 
Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam;  discharged 

for  disability,  May  9,  1863. 

Titus,  Henry 

18 

"      8,  '61 

11 

Discharged,  May  22,  1862. 

Tuttle,  Joel 

22 

May  4,  '61 

44 

Captured  aboard  the  "  Fanny,"  Oct.  1,  1861; 

discharged  as  paroled  prisoner,  May  21, 

1862,  at  Washington,  D.C. 

Vogel,  William  A. 

24 

Aug.  1,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam;  discharged 

for  disability,  Dec.  11,  1862,  at  Falmouth 

Wekesser,  Phillip 

25 

May  4,  '61 

" 

Sta.,  Va. 
Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C.;  dis 
charged  for  disability,   Nov.  6,  1862,   at 

Washington,  D.C. 

Wernley,  George 

28 

"                 44 

11 

For  disability,  Aug.  19,  1861,  at   Newport 

News,  Va. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
COMPANY  C. — Continued. 

DIED. 

1st  LIEUTENANTS. 


589 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Ennis,  William 

19 

May  4,  '61 

1st  Lieut. 

Died  of  disease,  Aug.  10,  1862. 

Cooper,  Edward  C. 

25 

«           u 

Sergeant 

Promoted  regimental  quartermaster-ser 
geant,  May  4,  1861;  2d  lieutenant  Nov.  23, 
1861;  killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

PRIVATES. 


Center,  Lucius 

Private 

Died,  June  4,  1862. 

Gallagher,  James 
Grosser,  Franz 

19 

28 

Aug.  24,  '61 
May  4,  '61 

: 

Died  of  disease  at  Hatteras,  N.C.,  Nov.  4, 
1861. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Lawrence,  Samuel  P. 
Watson,  William  K. 

20 

July  29,  '61 

« 

Promoted  corporal,  March  5,  1862;   killed  in 
action  at  Antietam. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Prosser,  Frank 

.... 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

DESERTED. 

PRIVATES. 


Adams,  Robert  C. 

22 

Aug.  22,  '61 

Private 

Sept.  16,  1862,  near  Antietam,  Md. 

Arnott,  John  T. 

22 

"     19,  '61 

" 

Sept.  16,  1862,  near  Antietam,  Md. 

McCoy,  Amos 

20 

May  4/61 

" 

May  18,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.Y. 

Moore,  Lawrence 

19 

"        " 

«« 

June  5,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.Y. 

Rolfe,  Richard 

30 

" 

" 

May  6,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.Y. 

Smith,  Angelo  M. 

19 

it 

<k 

May  8,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.Y. 

Wilson,  George  F. 

20 

July  29,  '61 

!( 

Dec.  12,  1862,  at  Fredericksburg,  Va. 

Witz,  Anthony 

19 

Sept.  20,  '61 

kv 

Sept.  16,  1862,  near  Antietam,  Md. 

NOT  ACCOUNTED  FOR. 

PRIVATE. 


Lock  wood, 

John 

21 

May  4, 

'01 

Private 
Co.  I. 

Transferred  to  this 
no  further  record 

company, 

Aug. 

ao, 

1861; 

MUSTER-OUT   ROLL   of   CAPTAIN  ALMA  P.  WEBSTER'S  COMPANY  D, 

9TH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 
Mustered  out  with  the  company,  on  the  2oth  day  of  May,  1863. 

CAPTAIN. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Webster,  Alma  P. 

20 

May  4,  '61 

1st  Lieut. 
Co.  G. 

Wounded  in  action  at  Roanoke  Island; 
promoted  captain  and  transferred  to  this 
company,  Sept.  3,  1862 

1st   LIEUTENANT. 


Perley, 

John 

K. 

18 

May 

4/61 

2d  Lieut. 

Promoted 

1st  lieutenant, 

March 

16,  1862. 

3d  LIEUTENANT. 


Meyers,  Sebastian 

29 

May  4,  '61 

Private 
Co.  F. 

Promoted  2d  lieutenant  and  transferred  to 
this  company,  Sept.  3,  1862;  wounded  in 
action  at  Antietam. 

1st  SERGEANT. 


Fitzgerald, 

James 

25 

May  4,  '61 

Corporal 

Promoted  serge 
in  action  at  Ci 
sergeant,  Feb 

sant,  Oct.  7, 
linden,  N.  C. 
6,  1863. 

1861;  wounded 
;  promoted  1st 

SERGEANTS. 


Cutler,  Robert 
Kennedy,  James  E. 

25 
21 

May  4,  '61 

"      4,  '61 

Private 
Corporal 

Promoted  corporal,  Aug.  20,  1861  ;  sergeant, 
Feb.  11,  1863 
Promoted  sergeant,  Sept.  1,  1861. 

Searing,  Peter  J.  L,. 

19 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Sept.  2,  1861  ;  sergeant, 
June  19,  1862;  wounded  in  action  at  An 
tietam. 

CORPORALS. 


Black,  John 

21 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  7,  1861. 

Giirran,  Joseph 

•l    16/61 

11 

Promoted  corporal,  July  1,  1862. 

Reaut,  Victor 

20 

"     4,  '61 

11 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  23,  1862. 

Erbe,  Charles 

19 

" 

» 

Promoted  corporal,  Dec.  3,  1862. 

Hughson,  John  F. 

27 

X 

Corporal 

McNamara,  John 

21 

"         " 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Feb.  15,  1863. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


591 


COMPANY  D. — Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

CORPORALS. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Moerser,  John 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Dec.  3,  1862. 

Nichols,  Jasper 

19 

u 

»» 

Promoted  corporal,  Sept.  1,  1861. 

Phoenix,  Richard 

19 

"        " 

11 

Promoted  corporal,  Feb.  15,  1863. 

MUSICIAN. 


Adams, 

Richard 

17 

May  4, 

'61 

Drummer 
Co.  G. 

1  Transferred  to 
to  Company  D 

Company  C 
,  June  6,  186 

J,  Dec. 
2. 

15, 

1861; 

PRIVATES. 


Areson,  Samuel 

18 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Berry,  Theodore 

19 

ii 

11 

Boylan,  James 

20 

u           u 

»• 

Briggs,  Charles 

19 

»' 

" 

Burns,  Joseph  T. 

20 

.» 

" 

• 

Campbell,  William 

20 

i. 

" 

Carman,  George  W. 

19 

" 

" 

Carson,  John 

27 

II 

" 

Cavanagh,  Peter 

19 

(I          It 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Chavantre,  Alfred 

21 

u            « 

11 

Coleman,  Joseph 

18 

" 

K 

Conroy,  Richard 

20 

u 

" 

Cook,  John 

18 

14                 (C 

Drummer 

Wounded  in  action  at  Fredericksburg,  Ya. 

Curtin,  John  C. 
Dark,  George 

20 
19 

II                 11 

II                 l< 

Private 

Wounded  and  captured  at  Camden,  N.  C., 
April  19,  1862;  returned  to  company,  Oct. 
15,  1862. 

Delder,  John 

21 

1. 

ii 

Evans,  John 

21 

1. 

" 

Hodges,  James 

20 

" 

»• 

Hunt,  James 

19 

1, 

14 

Keating,  William 

19 

U              11 

ii 

Lawrence,  John 

20 

Ii 

11 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Loyman,  Louis 

23 

" 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Marshall,  William 

18 

" 

11 

Martin,  Alphonso 

18 

It 

•• 

McCoy,  Francis 

19 

"        " 

11 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

592 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


COMPANY  D. — Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN, 

RANK. 

McCready,  Edward 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

McGowaii,  Thomas 

20 

u 

" 

Mealeany,  James 

19 

.1 

» 

Mullaney,  James 

20 

it 

" 

Morge,  L,ouis 

30 

ii       <i 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

O'Connor,  Patrick 

20 

u               « 

11 

Quinn,  Michael 

29 

" 

11 

Shane,  Samuel  S. 

19 

June  4,  '61 

»• 

Sherwood,  EwdardE. 

21 

Aug.  7,  '61 

" 

Sherman,  George 

19 

May4,'61 

14 

Stevenson,  James 

21 

June  4,  '61 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  June  19,  1862. 

Van  Orden,  Robert 

19 

May4,'61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Fredericksburg,  Va. 

Wiebelt,  George 

20 

" 

Sergeant 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Weir,  Edward  R. 

21 

ii       n 

Private 

"Wilson,  Thomas 

22 

"       " 

" 

TRANSFERRED 

To  30  RKGIMKNT,  N.  Y.  Volunteer  Infantry,  May  6,   1863. 

CORPORALS. 

Christopher, 
Benjamin 
Purcell,  Frances  A. 

Sherman,  George  W. 

26 
18 
19 

Aug.  30,  '62 

Sept.  2,  '61 

n        t< 

,  Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Feb.  11,  1863. 

Promoted  corporal,  July  30,  1862;  wounded 
in  action  at  Antietam. 
Promoted  corporal  July   30,   1862;    trans 
ferred  to  non-commissioned  staff  of  3d 
New  York. 

PRIVATES. 


Able,  Hiram 

18 

Sept.  2,  '61 

Private 

Bishop,  Samuel 

29 

Aug.  30,  '62 

" 

Blank,  Martin 

29 

4k     23,  '61 

" 

Burger,  Samuel  A. 

18 

Nov.  1,  '61 

•• 

Enlisted  at  Hatteras  Inlet. 

Chavantre,  Edward 

19 

Aug.  10,  '61 

14 

Cortisaos,  David 

21 

44     24,  '61 

ti 

Crookston,  Green  T. 

18 

"      22,  '61 

»• 

Crowley,  Florence 

28 

41     26,  '61 

11 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
TRANSFERRED.— COMPANY  D.— Continued. 

PRIVATES. 


593 


NAME 

Arw 

MUSTERED. 

"RTpvr  A  PIT  Q 

AArm, 

WHEN.     I      RANK. 

XVJBjM.ArvK.9. 

Eckerson,  George  W. 

22 

Aug.  29,  '62 

Private 

Transferred  to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Eisell,  Joseph 

19 

"     23,'  61 

•• 

Fink,  John 

23 

" 

« 

Goodyear,  Charles 

Sept.  4,  '61 

" 

Kennedy,   Robert 

26 

Aug.  23,  '61 

" 

McGill,  Thomas 

22 

Aug.  14,'  61 

11 

Phoenix,  Nathaniel 

18 

Sept.  13,  '62 

" 

Post,  Ebenezer  B. 

19 

Aug  26,'  62 

" 

Roddy,  John  J. 

21 

"     19,  '62 

" 

Wounded  and  captured  at  Antietam;  con 
fined  at    Richmond;    paroled;    reported 
to   regiment;  transferred  to  Morris'  bat 

Sarles,  David  R. 

20 

11     22,  '61 

•• 

tery,  May  6,  1863. 

Sarles  William  H. 

22 

" 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Schaefer,  Anthony 

18 

"     28,  '61 

44 

Scheik,  Valentine 

21 

"    *23,  '61 

" 

Smith,  John 

21 

u 

" 

Smith,  John 

24 

Sept.  13,'62 

" 

Trainor,  James 

28 

Aug.  8,  '61 

" 

, 

Van  Scoy,  John  A. 
Van  Scoy,  Warren 

19 
19 

44     19,  '61 

„ 

Wounded  and  captured  at  Antietam;   con 
fined  at  Richmond  ;  paroled;  reported  at 
Camp  Parole,  Md  . 

Watkinson,  William 

22 

44     23,  '61 

11 

DISCHARGED. 

CAPTAINS. 

Prescott,  Charles  W. 

30 

May  4,  '61 

2d  Lieut. 

Promoted  captain,  Aug.  1,  1861;  discharged 
by  resignation,  Sept  3,  1862. 

Wright,  Henry 

21 

Captain 

Discharged  by  resignation,  Aug.  9,  1861. 

PRIVATES. 

Anderson,  Henry 

25 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  sergeant,  May  24,  1861;  1st  ser 
geant,  June  19,  1862;  discharged  for  disa 
bility,  Feb.  6,  1863,  at  Falmouth  Station, 

Va. 

Austin,  John 
Booth,  Charles 

35 

21 

Aug.  28,  '61 
May  4,  '61 

Corporal 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  7,  1861;   sergeant, 
Jan.    9,   1862;  discharged   for   disability, 
Feb.  15.  1863  at  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
For  disability,  Aug.   20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

S94 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


DISCHARGED.— COMPANY  D.— Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

A.GE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    \      RANK. 

Brainard,  James  II. 

18 

May  4,  '61 

Sergeant 

Wounded    in    action    at    Antietam;   dis 

charged  for  disability,  Dec.  17,  1862 

Campbell,  George  W. 

18 

"       u 

Private 

At  Hiker's  Island,  May  20,  1861. 

Cavanagh,  Peter 

20 

Aug.  19,  '62 

11 

For  disability,  May  6,  1863. 

Conklin,  John  A. 

18 

May  4,  '61 

11 

At  Hiker's  Island,  May  20,  1861. 

Dean,  Junius  E. 

20 

tk 

«« 

For  disability,  Nov.  18,  1861,  at  Hatteras 

Inlet. 

Goem,  Mathias 

20 

.k       " 

" 

Wounded   in   action    at    Antietam;    dis 

charged  for  disability,  March  14,  1863. 

Hackett,  Thomas 

18 

June  4,  '61 

11 

For  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Hotaling,  Charles 

29 

May  4,  '61 

11 

By   sentence  of  a  general   court-martial, 

Sept   8.  1861. 

Hyde,  Theodore 

19 

"       " 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  June  19,'1862;  wounded 
in  action  at  Antietam;   discharged  for 

disability,  April  2,  1863. 

Jones,  Samuel  W. 

23 

Aug.  28,  '61 

11 

For  disability,  May  2,  1863. 

lie  Noir,  Henry 

19 

May  4,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  February  17,  1863. 

Ostrom,  John 

25 

,> 

«i 

Promoted    sergeant,    May   '24,    1861;    dis 

charged  for  disability,  March  13,  1863. 

Roach,  Samuel  S. 

20 

Aug.  13.  '62 

11 

Wounded   in    action    at   Antietam;     dis 

charged  for  disability,  Jan.  9.  1863. 

Rusher,  William 

18 

"     15,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Dec.  29,  1862,  at  Washington, 

D.  C. 

Scott,  John 

18 

May  4,  '61 

11 

May  5,  1861  ;  no  cause  stated. 

Searing,  Sylvester 

19 

u 

11 

May  20,  1861  ;  no  cause  stated 

Westfall,  Henry 

26 

u            u 

>< 

Wounded   in    action    at     Antietam;    dis 

charged  for   disability  April  8,  1863,  at 

Suffolk,  Va. 

VVildey,  Wilfred 

19 

11        «t 

" 

For   disability,  Aug.  20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Wiltsie,  James 

18 

.1        11 

i    n 

For  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

DIED. 

SERGEANT. 


Beesling, 

Henry 

35 

May  4, 

'61 

Sergeant 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

PRIVATES. 


Beethuysen,  Otto 

18 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

McCasker,  John 

20 

" 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Fredericksburg,  Va. 

Michaels,  Charles 

21 

it 

11 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Rothert,  William 

19 

•  . 

11 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Taylor,  Charles 

22 

"       " 

" 

Died  of  disease  at  Roanoke  Island,  May  16, 

1862 

Winn,  John 

18 

iSept  3,  '62 

" 

Died  of  disease  at  Falmouth  Sta.,  Va.,  Jan. 
10,  1863. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


395 


COMPANY  D. — Continued. 
NOT  ACCOUNTED  FOR. 

PRIVATE. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Scott, 

Charles  O. 

18 

Sept.  4,  '61 

Private 

Appears  on  rolls  of  January  and  February, 
1862,  without  remark;  no  further  record. 

DESERTED. 

PRIVATES. 


Alexander,  Phillip 

24 

May  4,  '61 

Private        At  Riker's  Island,  May  15,  1861  . 

Burns,  Charles 

21 

July  31,  '61 

» 

At  Suffolk  Va.,  April  28,  1863. 

Donnelly,  Andrew 

21 

Aug.  8,  '61 

" 

August  16  1861,  at  New  York,  N.Y. 

Fletcher,  Oat  man 

18 

May  4,  '61 

" 

May  20,  1861  . 

Haynes,  James 

19 

n       u 

" 

May  12,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.Y. 

Rogers,  William 

18 

u 

" 

Jan.  3,  1863. 

Rosseau,  Eugene 

31 

" 

" 

Sept.  5,  1862. 

Shay,  Charles  D. 

22 

I. 

11 

Promoted  corporal,  Sept.  1,  1861;  deserted 
at  Fredericksburg,  Dec.  13,  1862,  in  face  or 

enemy. 

MUSTER-OUT   ROLL   of   CAPTAIN   ADOLPH    LIBAIRE'S   COMPANY    E, 
9TH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEER  INFANTRY. 
Mustered  out  with  the  company,   May  2oth,  1863. 

CAPTAIN. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

labaire,  Adolph 

21 

May  4,  '61 

Captain 

Received  Medal  of  Honor  for  distinguished 
gallantry  at  the  Battle  of  Antietam. 

1st  LIEUTENANT. 


Greene,  Joseph  A. 

23 

May  4,  '61 

Sergeant 
Co.  F. 

Promoted  1st  sergeant,  June  30,  1861;  2d 
lieutenant,  Aug.  10.  1861;  wounded  in  ac 
tion  at  Rainbow  Bluffs,  N.C.;  promoted 
1st  lieutenant,  Oct.  4,  1862;  transferred  to 
this  company  Dec.  1.  1862. 

3d  LIEUTENANT. 


Vogt, 

Alexander 

21 

May 

4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal, 
Jan.  21,  1862;   1st 
second  lieutenant 

Sept.  26, 
sergeant 
,  Aug.  10, 

1861:  s 
,  Feb. 
1862. 

ergeant, 
12,  1862; 

1st  SERGEANT. 


Smith, 

Ahisha 

N. 

24 

May  4, 

•01 

Private 

Promoted. 

1st  sergeant 

Nov. 

21, 

1862. 

SERGEANT. 


Gaiidolfo, 

John 

B. 

19 

May  4, 

'61 

Sergeant 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

CORPORALS. 


Campbell, 
Benjamin  W. 
Clements,  James 

20 
25 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam;  promoted 
corporal,  March  11,  1863. 
Wounded  and  captured  at  Antietam;  pa 
roled  same   day;  returned  to  regiment: 

Farrell,  Nicholas 

25 

u 

" 

promoted  corporal  Feb.  13,  1863. 
Wounded  and  captured  at  Antietam;  pa 

vt 

roled,  date  not  stated;  reported  to  com 

pany;  promoted  corporal,  Jan.  1,  1863. 

Martin,  John  E. 

21 

"        " 

** 

Promoted  corporal,  March  11,  1863. 

McMahoii,  James 

30 

it 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  March  11,  1863. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
COMPANY  E— Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

MUSICIANS. 


897 


L,ange,  John  S. 
Logan,  John  F. 

21 
17 

May  4,  '61 

Bugler 
Musician 

Wounded  and  captured  at  Antietam;  pa 
roled  and  reported  to  company. 

PRIVATES. 

Bauer,  John  J. 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Byrne,  Hugh 

23 

Aug.  21,  '61 

•• 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Cahill,  Patrick 

20 

May  4,  '61 

" 

Chapin,  John  J. 

19 

.1 

" 

Cockefair, 
William  N. 
Coen,  Patrick 

26 
21 

u 

it 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Dever,  Daniel 

19 

" 

14 

Dietrich,   Christ. 

20 

" 

" 

Dillman,  Frederick 

22 

" 

11 

Wounded  in  action  at  Fredericksburg,  Va. 

Dunlap,  August  P. 

19 

" 

1st  Sergeant 

Earl,  Charles 

21 

" 

Private 

Ellis,  William  H. 

21 

u 

11 

Fisher,  Peter 
Fransier,  Phillip 

24 

19 

11      7,  '61 

u 

Wounded  in  action  at  Suffolk,  Va  .  ,  April  20, 
1863. 

Gill,  Francis  P. 

28 

"      4,  '61 

11 

Hall,  James  H. 

20 

Aug.  5,  '61 

14 

Hanrahaii,  John 

24 

Aug.  12,  '61 

-    ^ 

Wounded  in  action  at  Fredericksburg,  Va. 

Heff'erman,  John 

20 

May  4,  '61 

" 

Higgins,  Jeremiah  J. 

22 

,i                 U 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Roanoke  Island,  N.C. 

Hyde,  James  W. 
James,  Frederick 
Keenaii,  Michael 

22 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Musician 
Co.  D. 
103d  N.Y. 
Private 

Transferred  to  Company  E,  this  regiment, 
Jan.  15,  1863. 

Kelley,  Thomas  T. 
Knubel,  Henry 

20 

21 

».        .» 

Corporal 

Wounded  and  captured  at  Camden.  N.C. 
exchanged;  promoted  corporal,  Nov.  21, 
1862. 

Logan,  David  O. 

19 

"        11 

Private 

McDowell,  Samuel 

19 

" 

" 

McGowan,  James 

21 

u 

» 

Milleiiet,  Henry 
Miller,  Austin 
Morgan,  Metart 

18 
19 
21 

„     „ 

Private 
Co.  F. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company  May  22,  1861; 
wounded  in  action  at  Roanoke  Island  . 
Captured    and   paroled   at   Antietam;    re 
turned  to  duty. 

Nichols,  Adam 

23 

t>                 4> 

11 

598 


MUSTER-OUT  ROL L . 


COMPANY  E.— Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 
PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED, 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Pratt,  Amasa 

31 

May  4/61 

Private 

Reavey,  Hugh 

19 

„       .. 

44 

Rossner,  Frederick 

19 

44 

» 

Rung,  Frederick 

19 

.1 

" 

Sawyer,  Charles  W. 

26 

" 

" 

Wounded  inaction  at  Antietam. 

Sinclair,  RaimondH. 

22 

" 

44 

Stewart,  Edward 

25 

" 

" 

Stuart,  Thomas 

21 

.. 

14 

Van  Cott,  William  H. 
Van  Syckle,  Albert  S. 

22 

19 

„       „ 

Private 
Co.  A. 
Private 
Co.  B. 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Jan.  1,  1862: 
wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 
Transferred  to  this  company,  Aug.  23,  1862. 

TRANSFERRED 
To  313  REGIMENT,  N.  Y.  Volunteer  Infantry,  May  6,   1863. 

SERGEANTS. 


Burke,  John  J. 

21 

Aug. 

9,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  sergeant,  Nov.  21,  1862; 

wounded 

in  action  at  Fredericksburg. 

Haiikiiison, 
Charles  H. 

20 

" 

Promoted  sergeant,  Aug.  11,  1862; 
in  action  at  Antietam  . 

wounded 

Flood,  Owen  A. 

24 

11 

6,  '61 

4  4 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam; 

promoted 

sergeant,  Nov.  21,  1862. 

CORPORALS. 


Dyruff,  Charles 
Hanrahan,  Thomas 

20 
22 

Aug.  9,  '61 
"      5,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal, 

Promoted  corporal, 
as  Hanasell. 

Nov   21,1862. 
June  12,  1862;  transferred 

PRIVATES. 


Alexander,  George 

18 

Aug.  25,  '61 

Private 

Auderbert, 
Alexander 
Black,  Samuel 

27 
19 

Oct.  20/62 
Aug.  21,  '61 

: 

Burke,  Francis 

20 

"      9,  '61 

Dally,  Joseph  S. 

20 

"      26,  '61 

" 

Dally,  James 

28 

Sept.  9/62 

41 

Dalton,  Thomas  F. 

21 

"      3,  '62 

" 

MUS TER- OUT  ROLL. 


599 


TRANSFERRED.— COMPANY  E.— Continued. 


PRIVATE. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.     |      RANK. 

Driscoll,  Robert  B. 

18 

Aug.  25,  '61 

Private 

Doris,  Francis 
Kamcs,  Edgar  N. 

21 
19 

"     28,  '62 
"     27,  '62 

Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  25,  1862. 

Fisett,  Edward 

27 

Sept.  16,  '62 

ii 

Hatnes,  Benjamin  O. 

32 

u     10,  '62 

" 

Heiiken,  Henry 

20 

Aug.  19,  '61 

" 

Holliday,  David  C. 

23 

" 

•• 

Knowles,  William  G. 

21 

Sept.  4,  '62 

11 

Langdon,  Samuel 
Lee,  Robert 

Lockwood, 
William  J. 
Murphy,  James 

Murray,  Thomas 

21 
36 

28 
21 
21 

Aug.  30,  '62 
Sept.  16,  '62 
Aug.  15,  '61 
"'    23/62 
Aug.  23,  '61 

Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 

Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  25,  1862. 
Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  25,  1862. 

Captured  and  paroled  at  Antietam;  returned 
to  duty. 
Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  25,  1862. 

Nichols,  Edward  D. 

18 

"     26,  '61 

" 

North,  Henry 
Owens,  James 

21 
21 

"     19,  '62 
Sept.  4,  '62 

Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Get.  25,  1862. 

Rush,  George 
Smith,  Martin 

24 
23 

Aug.  30,  '62 
"     17,  '61 

Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  25,  1862; 
transferred  to  Morris  \battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Dan,  William 


24      May  4,  '61       Private        Transferred  to  1st  N.Y.  Vols.,  Sept.  8,  1861. 


DISCHARGED. 

1st   LIEUTENANTS. 


Lucquen, 
Bartlett, 

Andre 
John  H. 

26 

May  4,  '61 

1st  Lieut. 

Elected  1st 
mustered; 
Discharged, 
N.C. 

lieutenant  commissioned 
no  further  record. 
Oct.  23,  1861,  at  Hattcras 

;    not 
Inlet, 

2d  LIEUTENANT. 


Bartlett, 

William  A. 

24 

May  4, 

'61 

2d  Lieut. 

Discharged, 
N.C. 

Oct. 

23, 

1861,  at 

Hatteras 

Inlet, 

SERGEANT. 


Keating,  James  D. 


May  4,  '61 


Corporal 


Promoted  sergeant.  Sept.  6,  1861;  wounded 
in  action  at  Antietam;  discharged  for  dis 
ability,  April  23,  1863,  at  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


60O 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


DISCHARGED.— COMPANY   E.— Continued. 


CORPORALS. 


Davis,  James 

33 

May4,'61 

Corporal 

For  disability,  June  3,  1862,  at  Roanoke  Is 

land. 

Hart,  Frank 

20 

it         « 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam;  promoted 

corporal,  Nov.  20,  1862;  discharged  for  dis 

ability,  Feb.  20,  1863,  at  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

PRIVATES. 

Birdsall,  John 

20 

July  31,  '61 

Private 

For  disability,  Aug.  26,   1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Burke,  Tobias 

35 

Aug.  7,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Jan.  29,  1863,  at  Washington, 

D.C. 

Cummings,  Daniel 

20 

May  4,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Aug.   20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Gorman,  Patrick 

"    16,  '61 

11 

For  disability,  Aug.   20,  1861,  at  [Newport 

News,  Va. 

Hesse,  John 

18 

Aug.  6,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam;  discharged 
for  disability,  Jan.  7,  1863,  at  Philadelphia, 

Pa. 

Hoffman,  Frederick 

21 

May  4,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Aug.  20,   1861,  at   Newport 

News,  Va, 

Hyer,  James 

21 

«         n 

•• 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam;  discharged 

for  disability,  Jan.  13,  1863,  at  Chestnut 

Hill,  Pa. 

Jaiger,  Andrew 

28 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam;  discharged 
for  disability,  March  26,  1863,  at  Washing 

ton,  D.C. 

Johnston,  Frank  H. 

23 

«         «. 

•• 

For  disability,  Aug.    20,    1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Kiiubel,  John 

18 

Aug.  19,  '61 

14 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam;  discharged 

for  disability,  April  13,  1863,  at  Antietam 

Hospital. 

Latapie,  Peter 

25 

May  4,  '61 

Corporal 

For  disability,   Aug.  20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

McCoinb,  Thomas 

.... 

Private 

For  disability,  May  12,  1862,  at  Washington, 

D.C. 

McLean,  William  H. 

28 

May  4,  '61 

11 

For  disability,  March  16,  1863,  New  York  City. 

McLaughlin,  Paul 

18 

Aug,  20,  '61 

11 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam;  discharged 
for  disability,  Feb.  17,  1863,  at  Camp  Con 

valescent,  Va. 

Moore,  William  H. 

19 

"     23,  '61 

11 

By  sentence  of  a  general  court  martial, 

Nov.  22,  1862. 

Owen,  Thomas  C. 

26 

"      7,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Oct.  15,  1862,  at  Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

Pollock,  William 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Musician 
Co.  F. 

Transferred  to  this  company  as  'private, 
May  22,  1861;   discharged  for  disability, 

Aug.  20,  1861,  at  Newport  News.  Va. 

Thompson,  John  P. 

28 

tt         U 

Private 

For  disability.   Aug.  20,  1861,  at   Newport 
News,  Va. 

Volk,  Andrew 

19 

«         .1 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam;  discharged 

for  disability,  April  23,  1  1863,  at  Philadel 

phia,  Pa. 

Withers,  James 

20 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam;  discharged 

<l                      U 

for  disability,  April  23,  1863,  at  Philadel 

phia. 

DIED. 

PRIVATES. 

Auten,  John  R. 

24 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Drowned,  Nov.  1,  1861,  at  Hatteras  Inlet,N.C. 

Bloxham,  Richard 

21 

Aug.!21,'61 

11 

Promoted  corporal,  June  12,  1862;  died  of 
wounds  received  in  action  at  Antietam. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


601 


DIED. — COMPANY  E. — Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Chrissman,  Michael 
Dillman,  Adam 

20 
20 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  date  not  stated;  died  of 
wounds  received  at  Antietam. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Dunn,  John 
Glasser,  Phillip 

19 
19 

Aug.  19/61 
May  4,  '61 

« 

Died  of  disease,  Dec.  22,  1861,  at  Hatteras, 
Inlet,  N.C. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Guiding,  Thomas 
Hassen,  Robert  B. 

23 
21 

ii 

: 

Drowned,  Nov.  1,  1861,  at  Hatteras  Inlet, 
N.C. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Jackum,  Nicholas 

20 

u 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Judge,  James 
Leonard,  Augustus 

25 
22 

u 

u 

Promoted  corporal,  date  not  stated;  died  of 
wounds  received  at  Antietam. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

L,ockwood, 
Jabez  C.  F. 
McDermott,  Bernard 

22 

18 

Aug.  15/61 
"     1,  '61 

i 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

McEntee,  James 

19 

"     5,  '61 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Smith,  John 

24 

11    14,  '61 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Sweetman,  Henry 

19 

May  4,  '61 

" 

Died  of  wounds  received  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Van  Syckle, 
William  B. 

25 

^         »i 

" 

Died  of  wounds  received  at  Roanoke  Island, 
N.C. 

DESERTED. 

Nolan,  Michael 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Sergeant 

Jan.  4,  1863,  at  hospital. 

Smith,  Edward 

19 

<i         " 

Private 

May  24,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y. 

Thornton,  Beverly  E. 
Winder,  Ferdinand 

19 
21 

„          „ 

Private 
Co.  F. 

Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  May  4,  1861; 
deserted,  Aug.  30,  1861,  at  Newport  News, 
Va. 
June  4,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.Y. 

NOT  ACCOUNTED  FOR, 

Scott,  William 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Musician 

No  further  record  . 

Harpell,  Charles 

23 

" 

Private 

No  further  record. 

Freeman,  Charles 

20 

» 

" 

No  further  record  . 

Borstk,    William 

20 

« 

" 

No  further  record  . 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL   of   CAPT.  WILLIAM  H.   HAMMIL'S  COMPANY  F, 

9TH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 
Mustered  out  with  the  company,  on  the  2oth  day  of  May,  1863. 


CAPTAIN. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Hammill, 
William  H. 

24 

May  4,  '61 

Captain 

Wounded  in  Action  at  Camden, 

N.C. 

1st   LIEUTENANT. 


Graham,  Matthew  J. 

23 

May  4,  '61 

Sergeant 
Co.  A. 

Promoted  1st  sergeant,  Dec.  1,  1861;  2d  lieu 
tenant,  May  25,  1862;  wounded  in  action  at 
Antietam;  promoted  1st  lieutenant,  Com 
pany  F,  Jan.  29,  1863. 

3d  LIEUTENANT. 


Green, 

David 

J. 

23 

May  4,  '61 

Sergeant 

Promoted  1st  sergeant,  Jan. 
tenant,  Nov.  1,  1862. 

1,  1862; 

yd 

lieu- 

1st  SERGEANT. 


Martin, 

Peter  J. 

[m 

May  4, 

'01 

Sergeant 

Captured  at  Plymouth,  N.C.;  exchanged- 
promoted  1st  sergeant,  date  not  stated. 

SERGEANTS. 


Armstrong, 
Robert  W. 
Denham,  James  l'. 

Ingersoll,  William  H. 

18 
22 

May  4,  '61 

"  13,  '61 
"  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  date  not  stated;   ser 
geant,  Jan.  1,  1863. 
Promoted  sergeant,  Oct.  1.  1861;  wounded 
in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 
Promoted  sergeant,  Sept.  5,  1862. 

Meinacke,  Theodore 

35 

(i  il 

tfc 

Promoted  sergeant,  May  1,  1862. 

CORPORALS. 


Craft,  George 

21 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Jan.  1,  1863. 

Private 

Dwire,  David  W. 
Fink,  John 

21 
29 

it         »i 

Co.  I. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  May  4,  1861; 
promoted  corporal,  June  1,  1861. 
Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  1,  1861;  wounded  in 

action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Hughes,  John  L. 

20 

«.         " 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  Jan  .  1,  1862;  wounded  in 

action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Wallenstein,  Henry 

21 

" 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  Aug.  27,  1862. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
COMPANY  F. — Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

MUSICIANS. 


603 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Flockton,  Thomas 
Walsh,  John  F. 

28 
17 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Musician 
Co.  H. 

Promoted  chief  bugler,  May  4,  1861;  trans 
ferred  to  Company  D,  date  not  stated;  to 
Company  F,  Dec.  27,  1862. 
Transferred  to  this  company,  May  15,  1861  . 

PRIVATES. 


Berdan,  William 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Busch,  Frederick 

23 

" 

•• 

Byrd,  Frederick 

19 

.1 

" 

Cochran,  Thomas 

18 

.4 

" 

Cole,  Alfred  B. 

22 

It 

11 

Coalman,  Louis 
Daley,  William  H. 

23 
21 

41     16,  '61 

"       4,  '61 

Private 
Co.  E. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Aug.  21,  1861; 
wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Denham,  William 

"     13,  '61 

ti 

Donohue,  Thomas  A. 

19 

4,  '61 

" 

Duncan,  William 

28 

"     13,  '61 

» 

England,  Jacob 

22 

"       4,  '61 

« 

Fucot,  L.ouis 

28 

" 

" 

Gray,  John  N. 
Gunther,  Henry 

22 

21 

"        " 

., 

Captured  at  Plymouth,  N.C.;  prisoner  of 
war  from  Sept.  23  to  Dec.  23,  1862. 
Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Hartenfels,    William 

24 

u 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Hermans,  William  L. 

21 

"       " 

11 

Hoffman,  George  B. 

20 

"     15,  '61 

" 

Hollinswaithe,  John 

21 

11       4,  '61 

" 

Howard,  Joseph  D. 

21 

July  30,  '61 

«• 

Wounded  in  action  at  Rainbow  Bluffs,  N.C. 

Hyne,  Edwin  K. 

24 

May  15,  '61 

11 

Kelly,  John  J. 
I.arkin,  John 

19 

"     13,  '61 
Aug.  16,  '61 

„ 

Wounded  and  captured  at  Camden,  N.C.; 
exchanged  and  mustered  out  with  com 
pany. 

Leonhard,  Jacob 

18 

May  4,'61 

ii 

Marshall,  Samuel 
Monk,  Charles  T. 

21 

18 

it        it 

Private 
Co.  I. 
Private 

Transferred  to^this  company,  May  5,  1861  . 

Moore,  Francis  J. 

20 

"        " 

'« 

Munson,  George  W. 

18 

u 

" 

Parezo,  Francis  M. 

28 

"       " 

" 

Keed,  William  H. 

23 

"        " 

Corporal 

6O4 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


COMPANY  F. — Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Richards,  Joseph   H. 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Riley,  James 

20 

u 

" 

Ruff,  Segimund 

22 

" 

i< 

Schleth,  Henry  W. 

19 

1C 

» 

Starr,  Amos  I,. 

21 

u 

" 

Taylor,  George 

19 

l(          it 

» 

Thompson,  George  C. 

19 

" 

« 

Von  Grieff,  Max 

18 

" 

»• 

Weiss,  John  P. 

20 

"           c. 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

West,  Theodore  F. 
Westervelt,  John  H. 
White,  Joseph  E. 

22 
22 

"     15,  '61 

4,  '61 
u        <« 

Private 
Co.  H. 
Private 
Co.  I. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  May  15,  1861  . 
Transferred  to  this  company,  May  5,  1861  . 

Wiley,  Charles  H. 
Wright,  Clark 

33 
21 

i,        « 

Drum  Major 
Corporal 

Transferred  to  this  company  as  a  privat< 
when  band  was  discharged  . 

DISCHARGED. 

SERGEANT. 

Wilcox,  George  W. 

23 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  sergeant,  Jan.  l,  1862;  wounded 
and  captured    at   Camden,    N.  C.;    ex 

changed;  discharged  for  disability,  Aug. 

6,  1862,  at  Annapolis,  Md. 

CORPORAL,. 

McMillan,  John 

32 

May  4,  '61 

Corporal 

By  promotion  to  captain  87th  N.  Y.  Vol., 

Oct.  4,1861. 

PRIVATES. 

Afflick,  Stephen  D. 

18 

May    4,  '61 

Private 

For  disability  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  June 

17,1861. 

Brinkerhoff, 

34 

Aug.  12,  '61 

" 

For  disability  at  Newbern,  N.C.,  Sept.  6, 

Edward  H. 

1862. 

Bruce,  Orsamus  H. 

21 

May    4,  '61 

11 

For  disability  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.C.,  Oct. 

7,1861. 

Carpenter,  Jasper,  G. 

"     13,  '61 

" 

For  disability  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Aug. 

20,  1861. 

Clinton,  Joel  C. 

25 

Aug.  17,  '61 

i> 

For  disability,  May  23,  1862. 

Cosgrove,  James 

19 

May    4,  '61 

•« 

For  disability  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Aug. 

20,  1861  . 

Orookson, 

Ahsalom  A. 

June  4,  '61 

4i 

Taken   prisoner   at   Camden,   N.  C.;    dis 
charged  by  promotion  to  captain  6th  N.Y. 

H.A. 

Cummins,  George  G. 
Eike,  William  H. 

23 

24 

Aug.  8,  '61 
May    4,  '61 

•« 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C;  dis 
charged  for  disability,  Aug.  8,  1862. 
For  disability  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Aug. 
20,  1861  . 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


605 


DISCHARGED. — COMPANY  F. — Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS  . 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Eike,  Charles 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

For  disability  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Aug. 

20,  1861. 

Green,  George  L.. 

21 

"     13,  '61 

" 

For  disability  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Aug. 

20,  1861  . 

Grogan,  Jolin 

18 

14      4,  '61 

" 

For  disability  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Aug. 
26,  1861  . 

Hodgkins,  Augustus 

25 

"        " 

" 

For  disability  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y.,  June 
1,1861. 

Hughes,  William  H. 

24 

U                 U 

" 

For  disability  at  Falmouth  Sta.,  Va.,  Aug. 

23,  1862. 

Leaycraft,  John  C. 

21 

l«                 " 

'* 

For  disability  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Aug. 

20,  1861. 

Neiler,  Benjamin  F. 

28 

Aug.  6,  '61 

" 

For  disability  at  Newbern,  N.C.,  Sept.  4, 
1862 

Parmenter,  Henry 

19 

May  4,  '61 

«• 

For  disability  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Aug. 

20,  1861. 

Plase,  William 

17 

<i       n 

•« 

For  disability  at  Riker's  Island,  N.Y.,  May 

15,  1861  . 

Read,  Thomas 

"    13,  '61 

«i 

For  disability  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Aug. 

20,  1861  . 

Renner,  Henry  C. 

24 

May  4,  '61 

Corporal 

For  disability  at  Newbern,  N.C.,  Sept.  6, 

1862. 

Waldron,  Charles  H. 

20 

Aug.  26,  '61 

Private 

For  disability  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.  C.,  Dec. 

23,  1861  . 

Wolff,  Louis 

23 

"      1,  '61 

» 

For  disability  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.C.,  Nov. 

18,  1861  . 

TRANSFERRED 
To  30  REGIMENT,  N.  Y.  Volunteer  Infantry,  May  6,   1863. 

CORPORALS. 


Bagwell,  William  E. 

27 

July  28,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  May  20,  1862. 

Johnson,  Stephen 

27 

"      30,  '61 

«• 

Promoted  corporal,  May  1,  1862. 

Vallade,  Francis 

20 

Aug.  5,  '61 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N 
moted  corporal,  May  1,  1862. 

C.;  pro- 

PRIVATES. 


Beers,  Henry  A.  M. 

18 

July  30,  '61 

Private 

Cornwell,  Charles  H. 

18 

Aug.  10,'61 

" 

Denike,  Alexanders. 

22 

"      3,  '61 

it 

Depew,  William 

21 

July  30,'61 

11 

Feistel,  William 

20 

Aug.  1,  '61 

i« 

Fish,  John  B. 

26 

"    20,  '61 

" 

Goodrich,  Leonard 

30 

11      1,  '61 

ii 

Howell,  Francis 

19 

"    11,  '61 

" 

Hoyt,  John 

18 

"      7,  '61 

» 

Johnson,  John  H. 

29 

"    11,  '61 

,i 

McDonnell,  James 

18 

"      6,  '61 

" 

606 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


TRANSFERRED.— COMPANY  F.  —Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED  . 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Polhemus, 
Adelhert  C. 
Reed,  Samuel   i:. 

20 
22 

July  30,  '61 
"    28,  '61 

Private 

Reid,  George  W. 

18 

Aug.  1,  '61 

" 

Smith,  George  W. 

18 

"      9,  '61 

" 

Spaulding,  Allen  D. 

18 

Nov.  12/62 

" 

Stewart,  Charles  H. 

July  1,  '61 

11 

Stockholm,  John  C. 

20 

Aug.  6,  '61 

11 

Tate,  Samuel 

19 

"      7,  '61 

" 

Tumey,  John  W. 

22 

"      9,  '61 

11 

Willis,  Isaac  N. 

24 

11      1,  '61 

11 

DIED. 

PRIVATES. 


Bennett,  John  H. 
Byrd,  John 
Dickson,  William  H. 
Garrison,  Lossetter 

30 
22 

18 
26 

May  4,  '61 

Aug.  6,  '61 
"      7,  '61 

Private 

Of  disease  at  Newport  News,  Va..  July  26, 
1861. 
Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C.;  killed 
in  action  at  Antietam. 
Of  disease  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.C.,  Jan.  3, 
1862. 
Of  disease  at  Plymouth,  N.C.,  Sept.  24,  1862. 

Justice,  Thomas 
Sheppard,  Herman 

24 

23 

"      4,  '61 

.c 

Of  disease  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.C.,  Oct.  13, 
1861. 
Killed  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Van  II  on  ten,  William 

27 

"    14/61 

11 

Of  disease  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  Jan.  13,  1862. 

Von  Grieff,  Otto 

21 

May  4,  '61 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  date  not  stated  ;  killed 
in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

DESERTED. 

PRIVATES. 

Bath,  Theodore 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

At  New  York  City,  May  10,  1861  . 

Lockwood,  David 

25 

« 

" 

At  New  York  City,  May  10,  1861  . 

O'Hara,  John 

23 

,. 

» 

At  New  York  City,  May  10,  1861. 

Smith,  Julian 

22 

i«       >» 

" 

At  New  York  City,  May  20,  1861. 

MUSTER-OUT   ROLL  of    CAPTAIN    CHARLES    CHILDS'    COMPANY    G, 

QTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 
Mustered  out  with  the  company,  on  the  2oth  day  of  May,  1863. 

CAPTAIN. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Childs, 

Charles  W. 

21 

May  4,  '61 

1st  Lieut. 
Co.  A 

Promoted  captain,  and  transferred  to  this 
company,  March  15,  1862;  wounded  in  ac 
tion  at  Antietam. 

1st  LIEUTENANT. 


Harrison, 

John 

s. 

28 

May  4, 

'61 

1st  Lieut. 

3d  LIEUTENANT. 


Glasser,  Charles  W.       20      May  4, '61      Sergeant       Promoted  1st  sergeant,  Jan.  1  1862- 2d  lieu 
tenant,  Sept.  25, 1862. 


1st  SERGEANT. 


Cannon, 

Patrick 

24 

May  4, 

'61 

Private 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden, 
moted  1st  sergeant,  Nov.  26,  18( 

N 

2. 

(1 

;  pro- 

SERGEANTS. 


Clark,  Peter 

23 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  sergeant,  Nov.  26,  1862. 

Knight,  Frank 

21 

i. 

" 

Promoted  sergeant,  July  1,  1861. 

Reisser,  Charles 

26 

it 

<t 

Promoted  sergeant,  Aug.  1,  1862. 

Riley,  Edward 

19 

"        u 

11 

Promoted  sergeant,  Jan.  22,  1862. 

CORPORALS. 


Fronapfel,  Valentine 
Holland,  Thomas 

28 
26 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Jan.  21,  1862;  wounded 
in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 
Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  18,  1862. 

Mannix,  Patrick 

20 

" 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  7,  1862. 

On  in  u.  Hugh 

28 

u 

11 

Promoted  corporal,  Nov.  26,  1862. 

Slaight,  David  M. 

30 

«        <i 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  July  1,  1861. 

6O8  MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 

COMPANY  G. — Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

MUSICIAN. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Deary,  James 

21 

Aug.  14,  '62 

Private 

Mustered  out  as  musician  . 

PRIVATES. 


Ackergon,  George 

22 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Barrett,  Andrew 

35 

Aug.  6,  '61 

« 

Brady,  Michael 

23 

May  4,  '61 

4k 

Cannon,  Cornelius 

19 

14 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Collins,  Thomas 

22 

" 

11 

Cornell,  Alonzo 

18 

June  1,  '61 

" 

Cotter,  Patrick 

19 

May  4,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Crowley,  David 

21 

" 

11 

Drake,  James 

27 

"       •' 

11 

Drum,  Edward 

23 

.<       .1 

11 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Eadas,  John 

20 

" 

" 

Farley,  Thomas 

23 

u            •< 

" 

Fields,  William  M. 

23 

June  1,  '61 

i» 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Gaffhey,  John 

19 

July  31/61 

" 

Mustered  out  at  New  York  City,  Aug.  1,  1863. 

Gehing,  Anthony 

20 

May  6,  '61 

«• 

Hertling,  Michael 

21 

"      4,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Hill,  William 

21 

.1 

44 

Keating,  George  H. 

18 

it        « 

11 

Kenna,  Michael 

30 

t«        .. 

" 

King,  James 

20 

Junel,  '61 

11 

McDonough,  Michael 

19 

May  4,  '61 

" 

McMurray,  William 

18 

« 

44 

McSorley,  Hugh 

24 

" 

" 

O'Brien,  Timothy 

21 

t« 

11 

O'Donnell,  Charles 

21 

t, 

44 

Oesaii,  John 

21 

t. 

" 

Patrick,  Daniel 
Shuart,  Herman 

19 
20 

11      6,  '61 
"      4,  '61 

: 

Wounded  and  captured  at  Antietam;   re 
turned  to  duty,  Nov.  28,  1862. 
Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Spark,  Charles  J. 

21 

" 

" 

Tourney,  John 

21 

u 

41 

VanVarick,  Joseph 

21 

Sept.  26,  '61 

•I 

Weaver,  John  C. 

19 

May  4,  '61 

44 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


609 


COMPANY  G.— Continued.— Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED, 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Weisohar,  Antoine 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Wentz,  Jacob 
Williams,  William 

19 
25 

»       « 

Private 
Co.  A. 
Corporal 

Transferred  to  this  company,  May  8,  18G1  . 

TRANSFERRED 
To  3D  REGIMENT,  N.  Y.  Volunteer  Infantry,  May  6,   1863. 


CORPORALS. 


Dean,  Gilbert  K. 

36 

Aug.  20,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  date  not  stated  . 

Russell,  John 

23 

44      16,  '61 

11 

Promoted  corporal,  March  4,  1863. 

Toms,  Edgar  A. 

21 

Sept.  1,  '61 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  Nov.  26,  1862. 

PRIVATES. 

Allison,  James 

19 

Aug.  2,  '61 

Private 

Avent,  George  E. 

24 

"     16,  '62 

11 

Bogart,  Cornelius 

21 

"      6,  '  61 

«• 

Brosman,  Daniel 

19 

Sept.  13,  '62 

«« 

Cohen,  Leo 

21 

Aug.  28,  '62 

it 

Collins,  William 

22 

"     26,  '61 

44 

Coulman,  Charles 

26 

44     23,  '62 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Coulman,  Emil  J. 

20 

" 

44 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Cuthbert,  Peter  W. 
Dealy,  John 
Delmotte,  George  E. 

22 
22 

18 

44     28.  '62 
Sept.  5,  '62 
Aug.  1,  '61 

Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  25,  1862. 
Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  25,  1862. 

Doyle,  James 

22 

Oct.  20,  '62 

»« 

Early,  John 

19 

Aug.  17,  '61 

11 

Wounded  in  action  at  Roanoke  Island  . 

Johnson,  Charles  E. 

20 

44     27,'  62 

Kelly,  Patrick 

23 

44       6,  '61 

•» 

Kennedy,  John 

18 

"     19,  '61 

« 

Kimbark,  Alexander 

29 

Aug.  20,  '62 

" 

Louiisberry,  James  S. 

35 

"     22,  '62 

44 

McDonugh,  Eugene 

25 

44     19,  '61 

11 

61O 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
TRANSFERRED.— COMPANY  G.— Continued. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.      |      RANK. 

McElroy,  Hugh 

22 

Aug.    9,  '61 

Private 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.C. 

Mitchel,  Robert 

23 

July  31,  '61 

" 

Mitchel,  William 

21 

Aug.  30,  '61 

" 

Murph,  John  F. 

21 

Sept.  3,  '62 

" 

O'Brien,  Michael 

18 

Aug.  14,  '61 

" 

Orr,  James  W. 

21 

"     30,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Parker,  John  W. 

24 

"     26,  '61 

" 

Rockwell,  Thomas  H. 

23 

Sept.   1,'62 

" 

Taylor,  Edward 

28 

Aug.  14,  '62 

11 

Teller,  George 

18 

"     10,  '61 

11 

Thompson,  David  L,. 
Tice,  William  H. 

25 
20 

11      13,  '62 
"     14,  '62 

,k 

Wounded  and  captured  at  Antietam;  pa 
roled,  Oct.  6,  1862;  returned  to  company. 

Todd,  Benjamin  D. 

39 

"     23,  '62 

" 

Toms,  George  B. 

26 

Sept.   3,  '61 

Tyack,  Solomon 

23 

u       4,  '62 

" 

Walsh,  Michael 

21 

Nov.  13,  '62 

" 

Watson,  John 

21 

Aug.  20,  '62 

" 

DISCHARGED, 


3d  LIEUTENANTS. 


Burdett,  Richard   A. 

McElrath, 
Thomson  P. 

21 
25 

May  4,  '61 

Sergeant 
2d  Lieut. 

Promoted  1st  sergeant,  date  not  stated;  2d 
lieutenant,  Jan.    1,  1862;   discharged  by 
resignation,  Jan.  30,  1863. 
Discharged  to  accept  commission  in  5th  U. 
S.  Artillery,  June  23,  1861. 

CORPORALS. 


Andrews,  Stephen  P. 
Ebbis,  William  H. 

18 
20 

May    4,  '61 
Aug.  19,  '61 

Corporal 
Private 

At  New  York,  May  29,  1861,  as  being  under 
age. 
Promoted  corporal,  Jan.  20,  1862;  discharged 
for  disability,  Nov.  28,  1862,  at  Falmouth 
Station,  Va, 

MUSICIAN. 


Matie, 

William 

19 

May 

4, 

'01 

Musician 

May, 

1861, 

at  New 

York, 

N.  Y. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
DISCHARGED.— COMPANY  G.— Continued. 

PRIVATES. 


61  1 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Allison,  Evander 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

For   disability,  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.  C., 

Dec.   5,  1861. 

Allison,  Garrett 

18 

i«       «t 

14 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C.  ;  dis 

charged  for  disability  at  Pleasant  Valley, 

Md.,  Oct.  25,  1862. 

Berthalf,  Gilbert 

33 

.1                 H 

" 

Wounded     in     action     at   Antietam;    dis 

charged  for   disability  at   Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  Jan.  29,  1863. 

Boulanger,Frederick 

22 

"        " 

" 

For    disability,    at   Newport   News,    Va., 

Brinkm  an,  Frederick 

33 

U                ,4 

" 

Aug.  19,  1861. 
For  disability,  at  New  York,  June  4,  1861. 

Connelly,  Thomas  W. 

25 

Aug.  24,  '61 

» 

Wounded   in   action    at    Antietam;     dis 

charged  for  disability  at  Baltimore,  Md., 

March  24,  1863. 

Crook,  Phillip 

18 

"     21,  '61 

" 

Wounded    in    action    at    Antietam;   dis 

charged  Nov.  11,   1862,    by  enlistment  in 

Fifth  U.S.  Cavalry. 

Daley,  Dennis 

30 

May    4,  '61 

14 

For  disability,  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.C.,  Dec. 

24,  1861. 

Doherty,  Daniel 

22 

t.       .1 

" 

Captured  on  board  the   "Fanny,"    Oct.  1, 

1861  ;  discharged  as  paroled  prisoner,  May 

21,  1862,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Edsall,  William  H. 

29 

"       " 

41 

Captured  on  board  the  "Fanny",  Oct.  1, 

1861;  discharged  as  paroled  prisoner,  May 

21,  1862,  at  Washington.  D.  C. 

Edwards, 

21 

Aug.   7,  '61 

11 

For  disability,  at   Fortress   Monroe,  Va., 

Augustus  A. 

Jan.  9,  1862. 

Ellin,  John 

21 

"     20,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  at  Philadelphia,  Pa  ,  Dec. 

19,  1862. 

Everard,  Gardner 

26 

May    4,  '61 

•• 

Captured  on  the  "Fanny,"  Oct   1,  1861;  pa 

roled,  May  11,  1862;  discharged  as  paroled 

prisoner.  May  21,  1862. 

Ferguson,  Samuel  H. 

18 

Aug.  23,  '62 

" 

May  20,  1863;  cause  not  stated. 

Goodwin,  William 

29 

k, 

» 

For  disability,  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  Nov. 

8,  1862. 

Hass,  Nicholas 

26 

May  4,  '61 

11 

For  disability,  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Aug. 

19,  1861. 

Hawes,  Benjamin  F. 

20 

»l                41 

" 

For  disability,  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  July 

81,  1861. 

Hawkey,  George  W. 

21 

tl                   l« 

" 

For  disability,  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Aug. 

26,1861. 

Hodge,  William  M. 

20 

"                 " 

" 

For  disability,  at  Newport  News,Va.,  Aug. 

19,  1861  . 

Judge,  Francis 

21 

44               14 

" 

For  disability,  at  New  York,  May  13,  1861. 

Kavanagh,  Charles 

30 

it 

" 

For    disability,   at   Newport   News,    Va., 

Aug.  19,  1861. 

Murdock,  Andrew 

32 

Sept.  2,  '61 

" 

Mustered  to  serve  two  years;  mustered  out 

Sept.  2,  1863. 

McMurray,  John  G. 

22 

Aug  19/62 

>< 

Mustered  out  June  13.  1865,  at  Baltimore, 

Md. 

Meyers,  Horace  W. 

20 

June  1,  '61 

11 

For    disability,  at    Newport   News,    Va., 

Aug.  19,1861. 

Moran,  William 

18 

Aug.  14,  '61 

'• 

Captured  on  board   the   "Fanny,"  Oct.   1, 

1861;  discharged  as  paroled  prisoner,  at 

Washington,  D.  C.,  May  21,  18«2 

Murray,  George  E. 

26 

11     22,  '62 

" 

For  disability,  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  Dec. 

90       1  QCO 

Negus,  Addison  G. 

22 

May  4,  '61 

" 

*d,     loO*6. 

For  disability,  at  Newport  News,  Aug.  19, 

1861. 

Parker,  William  J. 

28 

Aug.  26,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  at  Fortress    Monroe,    Va., 

Jan.  10,  1862. 

Reynolds,  Jesse  F. 

27 

May    4,  '61 

Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  May  8,  1861; 

Co.  A. 

discharged    for    disability    at    Newport 

News,  Va..  Aug.  19,  1861. 

Sorby,  James 

24 

Aug.  20,  '61 

Private 

For   disability,    at  Pleasant  Valley,    Md. 

Oct.  25,  1862. 

Spoftord,  Ira 

39 

May  4,  '61 

11 

For  disability,  at  New  York,  N.  Y.,  June 

3,  1861. 

Sullivan,  Jeremiah 

21 

tt       t» 

11 

For  disability,  at  New  York,  N.  Y.,  June  4, 

1861. 

612 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


DISCHARGED.— COMPANY   G.— Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Vischer 
White, 

,  Henry 
William 

32 
22 

May  4,  '61 
Aug.   7,  '61 

Private 

For  disability,  at  Newport  News,Va.,  Aug 
19,1861. 
Wounded  and  captured,  at  Camden,  N.  C., 
discharged  as  paroled  prisoner,  at  Wash 
ington,  D.  C.,  May  21,  1862. 

DIED. 

PRIVATES. 


Campbell,  John 
Conway,  James 

22 
18 

May  4,  '61 
Aug,  20,  '61 

Private 

Died  of  disease,  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.  (.'., 
Oct.  15,  1861. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

De  L.avergne, 
George  A. 
Demorest,  John  W. 

Devlin,  John 

25 
22 
26 

"       7,  '62 
May  4,  '61 
Aug.  16,  '62 

- 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Died  of  disease,  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Va., 
Dec.  18,  1861. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Flanigan,  Patrick 

24 

July  81,  '61 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Holland,  Patrick 
Hopper,  Jacab  H. 

19 
23 

May  4,  '61 
Aug.  18,  '62 

: 

Promoted  sergeant,  Jan  .  20,  1862;  killed  in 
action  at  Antietam. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Hubbard,  Brainard 

18 

u     12,  '61 

« 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Knapp,  William 
Negus,  Allen  W. 

18 
25 

May  4,  '61 

44 

Promoted  corporal,  date  not  stated;  died  of 
disease  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.  C.,  Oct.  23, 
1861. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

O'L,eary,  William 

22 

Aug.  22,  '61 

" 

Died  of  disease,  at  Washington,  D.C.,  Feb. 
26,  1863.* 

MISSING  IN  ACTION. 

PRIVATES. 


Thompson,  Alfred 
McQuade,  Henry 

19 
23 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Missing  in  action  at  Antietam. 
Missing  in  action  at  Antietam. 

DESERTED. 

PRIVATES. 


Carroll,  John 

19 

May    4,  '61 

Private 

Oct.  30,  1862,  at  hospital  Washington,  D.C. 

Decker,  William  E. 

19 

u 

'• 

May,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y. 

Marshall,  John 

20 

"       " 

" 

May,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.   Y. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


613 


DESERTED.— COMPANY  G.— Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Muller,  Simon 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Feb.  25,  1862,  while  on  furlough. 

Murgor,  John  W. 
Scott,  William 

22 
26 

n       u 

„ 

Promoted  corporal,  date    not  stated;   de 
serted,    at    Washington,    D.  C.,  Oct.  30, 
1862. 
Oct.  10,  1862,  at  hospital,  Washington,  D.C. 

Van  Name,  Aaron 

26 

Aug.  14,  '62 

44 

Nov.  12,  1862,  while  on  sick  furlough. 

NOT  ACCOUNTED  FOR. 

PRIVATE. 


Kabele, 

John 

24 

May 

4,  '61 

Private 

No 

further 

record  . 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL   of   CAPTAIN  HENBY  C.  PERLEY'S  COMPANY  H, 
9TH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEER  INFANTRY. 
Mustered  out  with  the  company,   May  2oth,  1863. 

CAPTAIN. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Perley, 

Henry  C. 

19 

May  4,  '61 

1st  Lieut. 
Co.  F. 

Promoted 
company 

captain  and  transferred 
,  March  1,  1863. 

to  this 

1st  LIEUTENANT. 


McKechnie, 

Robert 

25 

May  4 

,'61 

Sergeant 

Promoted   1st   sergeant, 
lieutenant,  Dec.  22,  1861 
March  5,  1862. 

June 

;  1st 

10,  1861;  2d 
lieutenant, 

2d  LIEUTENANT. 


Rankin, 

Thomas 

26 

May  4,  '61 

Corporal 

Promoted  s( 
geant,  Dec 
8,1863.1 

irgeant, 
22,  1861; 

June  10,  1861;  1st  ser- 
2d  lieutenant,  March 

1st  SERGEANT. 


Johnston, 

Robert 

M. 

23 

May  4, 

'61 

Sergeant 

Promoted  1st  sergeant,  March  15, 

1863. 

SERGEANTS. 


Hodges,  Thomas 

29 

May  4,'61 

Sergeant 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

MoMahon,  Hugh 
Woolcot,  William 

31 
23 

..           u 

Private 
Corporal 

Promoted  corporal  Oct.  1,  1861  ;  wounded  in 
action  at  Camden,  N.  C.;  promoted  ser 
geant,  March  15,  1863. 
Promoted  sergeant,  Dec.  22,  1861. 

CORPORALS. 


Bower,  William 

18 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  March  15,  1863. 

Burns,  William  H. 
Daney,  Alexander 

Matthews,  William 

21 
21 

21 

» 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C.;  pro 
moted  corporal,  Feb.  1,  1863. 
Promoted  corporal,  Dec.  22,  1861;  wounded 
and   captured     at   Camden,    N.    C.;    ex 
changed. 
Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  1,  1861. 

Newman,  Henry 

19 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  Dec.  22,  1861. 

Norris,  William 

20 

it               11 

Promoted  corporal,  Feb.  1,  1863. 

*  MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 

COMPANY  H— Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 
MUSICIANS. 


615 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Curtis,  Wilbur  F. 
Kempe,  Adolph 

33 
17 

May    4,  '61 
Jan.    1.'62 

Private 
Private 
Co.  G 
103d  N.Y. 

Appointed  bugler,  May  17,  1861. 

Transferred  to  this  regiment  and  company 
Jan.  15,  1863;  mustered  o\it  as  musician. 

PRIVATES. 


Barton,  David 

22 

May    4,  '61 

Private 

Bradley,  Robert 

19 

" 

" 

Burk,  Thomas 

28 

,. 

41 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Carter,  George  B. 

23 

"     31,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Cottrell,  Elijah 

30 

"       4,  '61 

" 

Crosson,  John 

23 

•' 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Dewey,  Robert  J. 

19 

u 

11 

Geiiderman,  John 

21 

" 

" 

Gillespie,  John 

19 

«l 

ii 

Gurdrey,  Timothy 

25 

Q 

» 

Hamilton, 
Alexander  F. 
Hammer,  Francis 

Hartley,   William 

21 
20 

June  4,  '61 
May   4,  '61 

Musician 
103d  N.  Y. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company  and  regiment, 
Jan.  15,  1863. 

Huber,  John  P. 

18 

u 

" 

Irwin,  Henry 

21 

••     " 

" 

Jessup,  William 

28 

"     18,  '61 

ii 

Johnston,  George  W. 

20 

"       4,  '61 

" 

Kauth,  Francis 

19 

4, 

it 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Krekel,  William 

20 

" 

" 

Km  iit/.,  John  H. 

21 

,i                  I. 

•• 

Leslie,   William 

20 

U                 „ 

•l 

Lowe,  George  I>. 

18 

" 

" 

Maxwell,  Alexander 

19 

U 

•« 

Mayer,  Edward 

24 

u           „ 

" 

McDermott,  Peter 

19 

"     " 

'• 

McGiniiis,  James 

21 

" 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

McNamara,  Francis 

26 

" 

•• 

Murphy,  Martin 

21 

"     " 

" 

Murtha,  Patrick 

24 

Jan.  14,  '62 

" 

Enlisted  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.  C. 

Naeber,  Thomas  A. 

20 

May    4,  '61 

» 

Nash,  Patrick 

19 

'•       " 

*k 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

616 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL, 


COMPANY  H. — Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Paulding,  William 

18 

Aug.  22,  '61 

Private 

Twaddle,  John 

19 

May    4,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Vaulinda,  Samuel  P. 

17 

Sept.  26,  '62 

" 

Mustered  out  as  musician  . 

Wallace,  Thomas 

20 

May    4/61 

" 

Williams,  Thomas 

18 

K       «i 

11 

Wiseman,  Charles 

20 

" 

» 

Witt,  Francis 

19 

" 

" 

Wood,  Dewitt 

20 

11 

Sergeant 

Wyman,  Charles 

18 

"                 " 

Private 

TRANSFERRED 
To  30  REGIMENT,  N.  Y.  Volunteer  Infantry,  May  6,   1863. 


CORPORALS. 


Preston,  Patrick 
Leslie,  John  R. 

19 

24 

July  31,  '61 
Aug.  8,  '61 

Private 
it 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C.;  pro 
moted  corporal,  date  not  stated. 
Promoted     corporal,     date     not     stated; 
wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

PRIVATES. 


Biegen,  Henry 

19 

Aug.  8,  '61 

Private 

- 

Browning,  John 

20 

u     30,  '62 

11 

Burhans,  Jacob  L. 

21 

"     20/62 

" 

Byrnes,  James 

18 

Oct.   16,  '62 

" 

Carter,  Willard 

19 

Aug.  13,  '62 

" 

Coyle,  James 

25 

Sept.  25,'62 

" 

Eckstein,  Isaac 

22 

Oct.   24,  '62 

" 

Faddan,   William    H. 

19 

Sept.  16,  '62 

" 

Kalian,  Peter 

20 

Aug.  8,  '61 

" 

Folwell,  Cortland 

19 

"     28,  '62 

'• 

Glock,  Bernard 

20 

"     10,  '61 

" 

Hankinson, 
Thomas  D. 
Hickey,  Dennis  J. 

20 
19 

"     29,  '62 
"      5,  '61 

•« 

Joyce,  Patrick 

31 

Sept.  15,  '62 

" 

Kahn,  Isaac 

19 

3,  '61 

" 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL, 


617 


TRANSFERRED.— COMPANY  H.— Continued. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.     )       RANK 

Kleiner,   Alexander 

19 

Aug.  7,  '61 

Private 

Kratt,  Christopher 

20 

"    10,   '61 

" 

L,awlor,  Andrew 

19 

Oct.   16,  '62 

" 

Lynch,   John 

22 

Aug.  25,'  62 

" 

Martin,  James  J. 

18 

"  26,    '62 

" 

McClelland,  John 

18 

"       2,  '61 

11 

McCormick,    Patrick 

20 

"       8,  '61 

11 

McCormlck,    Patrick 

21 

Oct.    16,'62 

" 

Naeber,  John 

22 

Sept.   4,  '61 

11 

Netter,  James 

18 

Oct.    20,  '62 

«• 

Nolan,  Henry  J. 

19 

Aug.  5,  '61 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  c. 

O'Hara.  James 

18 

"     25,  '62 

" 

Owens,  Bernard 

19 

Oct.  14,   '62 

" 

Patrick,  James 

19 

Aug.  25,  '62 

11 

Reilly,  Andrew 

18 

Oct.    6,    '62 

" 

Reilly,  John 

19 

Aug.  9,  '61 

" 

Schneider,  Charles  E. 

19 

Sept.   3,  '61 

«• 

DISCHARGED. 

CAPTAIN. 


Ilodrigues,  Joseph  C. 

30 

May 

4,  '61 

Captain 

By  resignation, 

Dec. 

29,  1862. 

1st   LIEUTENANT. 


Rossell, 

William 

H. 

24 

May 

87, 

'01 

Private 
Co.  I. 

Promoted  1st  lieutenant,  May  31,  1861;  trans 
ferred  to  this  company,  Feb.  3,  1862;  dis 
charged  by  resignation,  Feb.  15,  1862. 

3d  LIEUTENANT. 


Lafon,  Vincent  F. 

21 

May  4,  161 

2d  Lieut. 

Discharged  to  date  May  17,  1861. 

SERGEANT. 

Byrne,  John 

21 

May  4,  '61 

Corporal 

Promoted  sergeant,  June  10,  1861;  wounded 
at  Antietam;  discharged  for  disability  at 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  April  17,  1863. 

618 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
DISCHARGED.— COMPANY  H.— Continued. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |       RANK. 

Beimer,  Francis 

19 

May    4,  '61 

Private 

Wounded  while  on  picket;  discharged  for 

disability,    Aug.    20,    1861,    at     Newport 

News,  Va 

Black,  John 

19 

"       " 

11 

At  New  York,  May  7,  1861;  no  cause  as 

signed. 

Brady,  Jolin  T. 

18 

"       " 

Corporal 

For  disability,    Aug.   20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Dockstader,  Crosby 

26 

"       " 

Private 

May  21,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Dockstader,  Lancy 

26 

.1 

« 

For  disability,  Jan.  29,  1863,  at  Convalescent 

Camp,  Va. 

Fauth,  Jacob  A. 

18 

Aug.    9,  '62 

lt 

For  disability,  Jan.  29,  1863,  at  Washington, 

D.  C. 

Finch,  Matthew  M. 

20 

May  31,  '61 

" 

For  disability,    Aug.  20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Lyons,  James  H. 

19 

4,  '61 

" 

May  11,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

McCormick,  Jolin 

19 

». 

» 

For  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861,   at   Newport 

News,  Va. 

Moore,  Lafayette 

18 

..        it 

11 

For  disability,  May  4,  1861,  at  New  York, 

N.  Y. 

Owens,  John 

19 

*.        n 

<« 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam  ;  discharged 

for  disability,  Feb.  25,  1863,  at    Philadel 

Reese,  William 

19 

"       5,  '61 

., 

phia,  Pa. 
Wounded     in     action    at   Antietam;    dis 

charged   for   disability,   Jan.  8,  1863,   at 

Convalescent  Camp,  Va. 

Simig,  Bernard 

22 

4.  '61 

" 

For  disability,  April  1,  1863,  at  Baltimore, 

Md. 

Simons,  Harris 

21 

"           " 

" 

For  disability,  Aug.   20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Snyder,  Samuel 

20 

i»           li 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Fredericksburg,  Va.; 

discharged  for  disability,  April  25,  1863,  at 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Thompson,  Adam 

18 

Aug.   9,  '61 

Private 
Co.  G. 

Transferred   to   this   company,    Sept.    26, 
1861  ;  discharged  for  disability,  May  26, 

1862,  at  Roanokc  Island,  N.  C. 

Trotter,  Frances 

20 

May    4,  '61 

Private 

Captured  on   board  the   "  Fanny,"  Oct.   1, 
1861;    mustered  out  as   paroled  prisoner, 

May  21,  1862,   at    Washington,  D.  C. 

Wallace,  John 

21 

Aug.  29,  '61 

»' 

Wounded   in    action    at   Antietam;      dis 

charged  for  disability,  Dec.  11,  1862,  at 

Baltimore,  Md. 

Wood,  William  H. 

21 

July  31,  '61 

" 

For   disability,    Dec.  27,  1861,    at   Fortress 

Monroe,  Va. 

Wyman,  William 

20 

May    4,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

DIED. 

CORPORALS. 

liiisii  m,  Christian 
Patterson,  William 

22 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  1, 
action  at  Antietam. 
Promoted  corporal,  June  10, 
action    at   Antietam    (was 
guard  at  that  time.) 

1861 

1861 
in 

;  killed  in 

;  killed  in 
the  color 

PRIVATES. 


Cavanaugh, 

20 

July 

31,  '61 

Private 

Killed  in  action  at  Camden, 

N.  C. 

William  D. 

Daly,  Patrick 

19 

Aug. 

30,  '61 

" 

Killed  in  action  at  Camden, 

N.  C. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
DIED. — COMPANY  H. — Continued. 

PRIVATES. 


619 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.     |      RANK. 

Donohue,  Francis 

19 

May   4,  '61 

Private 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Eisley,  John  A. 

24 

" 

Private 
Co.  G. 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Sept.  26,  1861; 
died  of  wound  received  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Fleming,  David 

18 

Aug.   5,  '61 

Private 
Co.  F. 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Jan.  1,  186;.'; 
killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Johnston,  David 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Jan.  1,  1862; 

Co.  F. 

killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Johnston,   John 

29 

July  81,  '61 

Private 

Died  of  wounds  received  at  Antietam. 

Magne,  George 

24 

May  4,  '61 

«» 

Killed  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

O'Connell,  John 

18 

Aug.  27,  '61 

Private 
Co.  G. 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Sept.  26,  1861; 
died   of   wounds   received   in   action  at 

Antietam. 

Pearson,  Thomas 

22 

May  4,   '61 

Private 

Died  of  wounds  received  at  Antietam. 

Stephenson, 

18 

Aug.    2,  '01 

»« 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

William  K. 

Vanness,  Samuel  J. 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Drummer 

Died  of  disease,  Aug.  9,  1862,  at  Newport 

News,  "Va. 

Walaii,  John 

28 

Aug.  12,  '61 

Private 
Co.  G. 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Sept.  26,  1861; 
drowned  off  transport  near  Aquia  Creek, 

Va.,  Aug.  13,  1862. 

DESERTED. 


PRIVATES. 


Black,  Robert 

Private 

In  May,  1861. 

Burns,  John 

23 

May  4,  '61 

ti 

At  New  York,  May  5,  1861. 

Davis,  David 

27 

« 

'« 

At  New  York,  May  5,  1861. 

Hart,  Henry 

18 

,i 

" 

At  Rockville,  Md.,  Sept.  9,  1862. 

Cole,  Calvin 
Mallett,  Theodore 
McBride,  Matthew 

30 
21 
22 

Aug.  22,  '61 
Sept.    1,'62 
Aug.  26,  '62 

Private 
Co.  I. 
Private 
Co.  G. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Dec.  8,  1861 
deserted  at  Rockville,  Md.,  Sept.  9,  1862. 
Transferred  to  this  company,  Nov.  25,  1862; 
deserted  at  Falmouth,  Va.,  Nov.  30,  1862. 
At  New  York,  May  1,  1863. 

McCaffy,  Michael 

24 

Oct.    3,    '62 

11 

At  New  York,  May  1,  1863. 

Orr,  James 

19 

May  4,  '61 

" 

At  New  York,  May  15,  1861. 

Righy,  Thomas 

21 

" 

" 

At  Riker's  Island,  May  21,  1861. 

Schradin,  Henry 

20 

u 

» 

May  5,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Skinner,  John  C. 

32 

i» 

" 

May  5,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

White,  Samuel 

20 

Oct.   8.   '62 

" 

Nov.  30,  1862,  at  Falmouth  Sta.,  Va. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL   of   CAPTAIN    LAWRENCE    LEAHY'S  COMPANY  I, 

QTH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 
Mustered  out  with  the  company,  on  the  2oth  day  of  May,  1863. 

CAPTAIN. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Leahy,  Lawrence 

21 

May  4,  '61 

1st  Lieut. 

Promoted  captain,  March 

15,  1862. 

1st  LIEUTENANT. 


Fleming 

James 

H. 

26 

May  4, 

'61 

2d 

Lieut. 

Promoted  1st  lieutenant, 

Feb. 

14, 

1862. 

3d  LIEUTENANT. 


Andrews, 

William 

8. 

20 

May  4, 

'61 

1st  Sergeant 
Co  G 

Promoted  2d  lieutenant,  June  24,  1861;  de 
tailed  signal  officer  at  army  headquarters. 

1st  SERGEANT. 


Paret, 

Charles 

H. 

25 

May 

4,  '61 

Sergeant 

Promoted  1st  sergeant, 

Nov. 

1,  1862. 

SERGEANTS. 


Kervan,  Edward  H. 

20 

May  4,  '61 

Private 
Co.  F. 

Transferred  to  this  company,  May  5,  1861  ; 
promoted  sergeant  same  date;  wounded 

in  action  at  Antietam. 

McKinley,  John 

27 

it                      14 

Private 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C.  ;  pro 

moted  corporal,   May  1,   1862:    sergeant, 

Nov.  1.  1862. 

Ross,  John  G. 

21 

il                      il 

•« 

Promoted   corporal,  Oct.  1,1861;  sergeant, 

Nov.  1,1861. 

Rourke,  Thomas 

24 

Sergeant 

CORPORALS. 


Boyd,  Dewitt  C. 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  23,  1862, 

Brown,  William 

24 

ii 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  March  7,  1863. 

Davis,  John  S. 

20 

it        u 

Corporal 

Gough,  James  J. 

21 

«        i« 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Feb.  12,  1862. 

Hill,  Charles  E. 

26 

it 

Corporal 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Severence,  William 

25 

tt        t. 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Nov.  1,  1862. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
COMPANY  I. — Continued.    .Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

MUSICIAN. 


621 


NAME. 

AGE. 

Musi 
WHEN. 

nERED  . 

RANK. 

REMARKS. 

Scott,  William  T. 

19 

May    4,  '61 

Musician 

PRIVATES. 

Bartlett. 

Frederick  E. 
Bell,  Richard 

24 
20 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Bliss,  Joseph  D. 

19 

44 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Bolger,  Thomas 

19 

u             It 

ii 

Cavanaugh,  James 

27 

11 

» 

Cockefair,  William 

22 

" 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Colton,  Michael 

22 

" 

" 

Donavan,  Timothy  D. 

20 

"     " 

(i 

Downey,  Dennis 

"     27,  '61 

» 

Driscoll,  William 

19 

"       4,  '61 

»• 

Edie,  Charles  B. 

21 

" 

• 

Flanagan,  William 

22 

" 

" 

Graham,  Charles  D. 

19 

" 

" 

Hagan,  Daniel  J. 

21 

44                       It 

» 

Johnston,  Charles  F. 

21 

11             11 

14 

Wounded  in  action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 

Kirman.  James 

19 

4, 

" 

Kitz,  Nicholas 

22 

11                      (( 

11 

Krohr,  William 

21 

" 

" 

Lanagau,  Edward 

25 

" 

" 

Luckmeyer,  John 

23 

44 

" 

McCaffrey,  Francis 

20 

li 

" 

Meyers,  William 

19 

« 

" 

Milling,  John 

22 

4, 

» 

Moore,  William 

18 

" 

tt 

Platt,  Lewis  A. 

29 

«, 

•• 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Schultz,  James 

19 

" 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Schwartz,  Jacob 

21 

<l 

" 

Smythe,  William  H. 

24 

.. 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Sweeney,  Peter  B. 

18 

« 

" 

Thain,  Hamilton  W. 
Turner,  John 

18 
20 

u               „ 

Private 
Co.  F. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  May  5,  1861; 
wounded  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

622  MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 

COMPANY  I. — Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Warke,  William 

May  ,  15'61 

Private 

Watterson,  Henry  W. 

19 

"       4,  '61 

11 

Wareing,  William  H. 

25 

"     15,  '61 

" 

TRANSFERRED 
To  30  REGIMENT,  N.  Y.  Volunteer  Infantry,  May  6,   1863. 

SEKGEANT. 


Thompson,  Walter  L<. 

24 

Aug.  21,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  1,  1861;  sergeant, 
Nov.  1,  1861. 

CORPORALS. 

Tooker,  James  R. 

19 

Aug.  22,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  date 

not  stated. 

Smith,  John 

23 

Sept.  3,  '61 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  Jan. 

1,  1863. 

Liaughlin,  George 

22 

Aug.  22,'  61 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  Jan. 

1,  1863. 

PRIVATES. 


Benner,  Nicholas 

21 

Aug.  21,  '62 

Private 

Berrian,  Merviix  J. 

22 

"    23,   '62 

" 

Blanchard,  .lames 

19 

"    22,  '62 

" 

Brooks,  James 

21 

Oct.  21,  '62 

'• 

Buckland,  Charles 

19 

Aug.    3,  '61 

41 

Cuttle,  George  C. 

21 

Sept.  10,  '62 

" 

Dalton,  Henry 

24 

Aug.  19,  '62 

" 

To  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Daly,  David  N. 

24 

Sept.  24,  '62 

" 

Daly,  John  H. 

22 

"     29,  '62 

"• 

Demott,  Peter  N. 

21 

Aug.  23,  '62 

" 

Dixon,  Jeremiah 

25 

"     21,  '62 

" 

To  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Dickinson,  John  W. 

19 

"     22,  '62 

" 

Driscoll,  Jeremiah 

18 

"     20,  '62 

" 

England,  John 

25 

Aug.  81,  '61 

" 

Feeley,  Patrick 

28 

"     30,  '61 

11 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Fitzpatrick,  John 

22 

"     21,  '62 

" 

To  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
TRANSFERRED.— COMPANY  I.  —Continued. 

PRIVATES. 


623 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Freed,  William  T. 

21 

Aug.  23,  '62 

Private 

Gallagher,  James 

21 

May  27,  '61 

11 

Hatfield,  Leonard 

20 

Aug.  22,  '61 

" 

Heckler,  Frank 
Hughes,  John  E. 

19 
20 

Sept.  2,  '61 
Aug.  22,  '62 

I 

Wounded  and  captured  at  Camden,  N.  C.  ; 
exchanged  . 

Kehoe,  John 

24 

11     21,  '62 

•• 

Keyser,  John 

21 

"     28,  '62 

" 

Kippax,  William  H. 

19 

"      22,  '61 

" 

.Lewis,  Richard  V. 

21 

Sept.  19,  '62 

" 

Madden,  James 

19 

Aug.  22,  '61 

" 

Malier,  Michael 

19 

Sept.  22,'62 

" 

Transferred  to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Marsh,  Samuel  H. 

20 

May  20,  '61 

" 

McCluskey,  Hugh 

25 

Aug.  22,  '62 

« 

McCue,  Edward  J. 

21 

"     21,  '62 

» 

Transferred  to  Morris'  battcry.May  3,  1863. 

McGloin,  William 

21 

"     20,  '62 

" 

Transferred  to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,1863. 

McVey,  Samuel 

18 

"     22,  '61 

" 

Mead,  James 
Reed,  William  H. 

18 
22 

June  2,  '61 
Nov.    7,  '62 

Private 
Co.  B. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Nov.  16,  1861  . 
Transferred  to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Ryan,  Stephen 

19 

Aug.  26,  '62 

•' 

Smith,  Henry  J. 

21 

"      19,  '62 

" 

Smith,  John  B. 

21 

Oct.    7,  '62 

" 

Transferred  to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Sweeney,  Joseph 

21 

Aug.  9,  '62 

" 

Transferred  to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Wheeler,  Thomas 

28 

"     30,  '62 

<•• 

Transferred  to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

White,  James 

23 

Sept.  30,  '62 

" 

Transferred  to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

DISCHARGED. 

CAPTAINS. 


Barnard, 

Leon 

30 

May  3,  '61 

1st  Lieut. 

Commissioned  captain  in  First  New  York 

1st.  N.  Y. 

Infantry;    transferred  to   this    regiment 

and    company,  July  31,  1861;  discharged 

by  resignation,  March  15,  1862. 

Copcutt, 

Henry  W. 

26 

14       4,  '61 

Captain 

By  resignation,  Aug.  12,  1861  . 

1st    LIEUTENANT. 


Burke, 

Timothy 

J. 

25 

May 

4,  '61 

1st  Lieut. 

Discharged  by  resignation, 

May  26, 

1861. 

624 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
DISCHARGED.— COMPANY  I.— Continued. 

CORPORAL. 


MUSTERED  . 

NAME 

AGE. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

J\  .K  M  A  K  K  !**  . 

Promoted     corporal,     date     not     stated; 

wounded   in   action    at    Antietam;   dis 

Dennis,  Edward 

20 

Aug.  22,  '61 

Private 

charged  for  disability,  Jan.   13,   1863,  at 

Frederick,  Md. 

PRIVATES. 

Albright,  Charles   A. 

18 

Aug.  18,  '62 

Private 

For  disability,  Nov.  19,  1862. 

Beaton,  Charles  H. 

19 

May    4,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Aug.   20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Beaur,  Albert 

20 

''        " 

u 

For  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Beith,  James 

19 

»        »» 

" 

Captured   on   the   "Fanny,"  Oct.    1,    1861; 

mustered  out  as  paroled  prisoner,  May  21, 

Carson,  John 

20 

tt 

u 

1862,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 
Captured    on    the    "Fanny,"  Oct.   1,  1861; 

mustered  out  as  paroled  prisoned,  May  21, 
1862,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Corsa,  L,ewis  A. 

June  19,  '62 

" 

For  disability,  Feb.  16,  1863,  at  Convalescent 

Camp,  iVa. 

Crosby,  Robert 

20 

May    4,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Aug.   20,    1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Curry,  William 

June  5,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Oct.  16,  1862,  at  Providence, 

R.I. 

Dalton,  Henry 

20 

May  10,  '61 

" 

For   disability,    May   14,  1861,   at   Riker's 

Island,  N.  Y. 

Foley,  Thomas 

22 

Sept.  29,  62 

11 

Wounded   at    Fredericksburg,    Va.;    dis 
charged  for  disability,  March  1,   1863,  at 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Fulton,  David 

May  27,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Dec.  5,  1861,  at  Hatteras  In 

let,  N.  C. 

Fulton,   Theodore 

19 

"      4,  '61 

11 

For  disability,  June  27,  1862,  at   Roanoke 

Island,  N.  C. 

Griffin,  Jacob  M. 

20 

"        " 

(4 

For  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Hamilton,  David 

20 

i<        <i 

»k 

For  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Hutton,  William  S. 

20 

Aug.  22,  '61 

*• 

For  disability,   June  30,  1862,   at  Roanoke 

Island,  N.  C. 

McDevitt,   Daniel 

33 

3,  '61 

u 

Jan.  9,  1863.  at  Providence.  R.I. 

Smith,  James 

24 

May  4,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Aug.  20,  1861,  at   Newport 

News,  Va. 

Thatcher,  Charles  B. 

19 

"        <• 

11 

For  disability,  May  10,  1861,  at  New  York, 

N.  Y. 

Wood,  William 

19 

Aug.  30,  '61 

11 

Dishonorably,  by  sentence  of  G.  C.  M.,  to 

date,  Aug.  30,  1863. 

DIED. 

SERGEANT. 

McClinchy,  John 

22 

May  4,  '61 

Corporal 

Promoted  sergeant  prior  to  June  30,  1861: 
drowned  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.  C.,  Nov.  11, 
1861. 

CORPORAL. 

Adair,  John 

June  1,  '61 

Private 

Promoted   corporal,  Oct.   1,  1861;  killed  in 

action  at  Antietam. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
DIED— .COMPANY  I. —Continued. 

PRIVATES. 


625 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Collins,  L,evi 

19 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Killed  in  action  at  Antietam. 

Haltzmar,  Charles 
Matzer,  John 
Miirph,  James 

2-2 

21 
23 

It                  U 

Aug.  15,  '61 
May  4,   '61 

« 

Killed  while  on  guard  at  Newport  News, 
Va..    Sept.  1,1881. 
Died  of  disease,  Dec.  15,  1862,  at  Alexandria, 
Va. 
Killed  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Seward,  William  M. 
Warren,  Albert 

20 
25 

,.        « 

•• 

Promoted  corporal,  Sept.  1,  1861; 
action  at  Camden,  N.  C. 
Drowned  off   transport   in  N.  Y 
June  5,  1861. 

killed  in 
.   harbor, 

DESERTED. 

PRIVATES. 

Adams,  Robert 

22 

May  4,  '61 

Corporal 

July  1,  1861,  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Va, 

Bodell,  Charles 

20 

" 

Private 

May  28,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Cassidy,  Charles 

19 

" 

kt 

May  15,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Daltoii,  Charles 
Devers,  Charles 

Gallagher,  Charles 
Marand,  Thomas 

19 
22 

18 

Aug.  22,  '61 

May  27,  '61 

"      4,  '61 

•• 

Dec.  13,  1862,  at  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  face  of 
the  enemy. 
Promoted  corporal,  date  not  stated;    de 
serted  Aug.  12,  1862,  at  Falmouth  Station, 
Va. 
Sept.  14,  1862,  at  South  Mountain,  Md.,  face 
of  the  enemy. 
June  5,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Pettigrew,  John 
Ouark,  Charles 

18 

Aug.  20,  '62 

: 

Sept.  14,  1862,  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 
of  the  enemy. 
In  May,  1861, 

face 

Shaw,  William 
Sproutz,  Nicholas 

22 

19 

May  4,   '61 

n 

Dec,  13,  1862,  at  Fredericksburg,  Va., 
of  the  enemy  . 
June  5,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

face 

Trainor,  Phillip 

21 

Oct.  21,  '62 

»• 

Feb.  6,  1863,  at  Aquia  Creek,  Va. 

Von  Ullen,  William 

19 

Aug.  16,'61 

•• 

Sept.  29,  1862,  at  Antietam  Iron  Works, 

Md. 

Wallen,  Franklin 

22 

May  4,  '61 

•• 

May  24,  1861,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Wheeler,  Henry  W. 
Wilcox,  Charles 

20 
21 

<i 

i. 

Dec.  13,  186$,  at  Fredericksburg,  Va. 
face  of  the  enemy. 
May  24,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

,    in 

Zinch,  Charles 

20 

"          " 

" 

May  24,  1861,  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

NO  RECORD. 

PRIVATE. 

Flanigan,  Richard 

•• 

May  27,  '61 

Private 

No  further  record. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL  of  CAPTAIN  RICHARD  H.  MORRIS'  COMPANY  K, 

9TH  REGIMENT,  NEW  YORK  VOLUNTEERS. 
Mustered  out  with  the  company,  on  the  2oth  day  of  May,  1863. 

CAPTAIN. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Morris, 

Richard  H. 

21 

May   4,  '61 

Sergeant 
Co.  C 

Promoted 
1861;  1st 
captain, 

2d    lieutenant,    Co.  H, 
lieutenant,  Co.  K,   Dec. 
Sept.  30,1862. 

June  1, 

25,   1861; 

1st  LIEUTENANT. 


Donaldson,  John  L.       21     May    4,  '61  1st  Sergeant  Promoted  2d  lieutenant,  Feb.  15,  1862;  1st 
lieutenant,  Aug.  10, 1863. 


2d  LIEUTENANT. 


Shields, 

John 

B. 

19 

May 

4, 

'61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal  in   1861; 
Dec.  1,  1862;  2d  lieutenant, 

1st  sergeant, 
March  16,  1863. 

1st  SERGEANT. 


Mclaughlin,  Michael     25     May  4,  '61      Private        Promoted  corporal  June  18,  1861 ;  sergeant, 

Oct.  1,1861;  1st  sergeant,  March,  16,  1863. 


SERGEANTS. 


Newber,  Chales  F. 
Starr,  John  H. 

19 
23 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Sergeant 

Promoted  corporal,  date  not  stated;  ser 
geant,  March  1,  1863. 

I  'Word,  John  L. 

19 

"       " 

Private 

Promoted  sergeant,  Aug.  19,  1862. 

CORPORALS. 


Curley,  Michael 

20 

May    4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  Feb.  1,  1862. 

Hopper,  George 

"     15,  '61 

•• 

Promoted  corporal,  Dec.  17,  1861. 

Home,  James 

20 

"       4,  '61 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  Feb.  1,  1862. 

Kelly,  Michael 

21 

•• 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  prior  to  Aug.  1862. 

Scott,  Edward 

19 

it        u 

" 

Promoted  corporal,  March  5,  1863. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 
COMPANY  K— Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

MUSICIANS. 


627 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Hutchinson,  William 
Ritter,  Peter 

20 
16 

May   4,  '61 
Nov.  5,  '61 

Musician 
Musician 
Co.  K, 

103d  N.  Y. 

Transferred  to  this  regiment  and  company, 
Jan.  13,  1863. 

PRIVATES. 


Alvord,  Walter  B. 

19 

May    4,  '61 

Private 

Anketel,  William  T. 

19 

11                 11 

11 

Bamerick,  Thomas 

19 

.. 

" 

Blair,  Thomas 

19 

•• 

" 

Brodigan,  Patrick 

21 

i. 

" 

Clark,  Bernard 

21 

11 

" 

Cole,  Francis 

23 

II                 .1 

" 

Connelly,  Patrick 

"     29,  '61 

" 

Cook,  Theodore 

20 

u       4,  '61 

11 

Corsini,  Giovanni 

28 

"        " 

" 

Cunningham, 
Michael 
Fanning,  William 

19 
21 

II                 11 

ii 

Farley,  Thomas 

19 

II 

u 

Fleming,   Howard 

22 

<! 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  An  tie  tarn. 

Gaynor,  Frederick 

22 

.1 

" 

Henley,  John 

19 

k(              Ik 

" 

Hickey,  Michael 

23 

II 

" 

Hogan,  James 

20 

"     " 

" 

Wounded  in  action  at  Antietam  . 

Hyler,  William 

20 

1. 

u 

Johnston,  Robert 

19 

U                 .4 

•• 

Kelly,  Patrick 

21 

" 

" 

Kline,  Peter 

31 

II 

11 

Knapp,  William 

20 

U                 II 

» 

Malone,  John 

20 

I,     .1 

" 

Mansfield,  Francis 

27 

1,     .1 

« 

Marks,  Jonas 

30 

I, 

" 

McGinnis,   John 

19 

"     29,  '61 

'« 

McMullin,  William 

19 

"      4,  '61 

>< 

McNellis,  Patrick 

21 

n 

•• 

Minay,  Michael 

19 

u        ik 

» 

Mulligan,  Michael 

21 

ik        u 

11 

628  MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 

COMPANY  K. — Continued.     Mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Nash,  John 

20 

May    4,  '61 

Private 

Nicholas,  George  C. 

22 

,4 

" 

Nolan,  Walter 

22 

"     27,  '61 

•• 

Presley,  Benjamin 

26 

4,  '61 

" 

Prine,  William 

20 

"        " 

11 

Ryan,  John 

20 

., 

'• 

Schaefer,  John 

21 

" 

" 

Sheik,  Edward 

30 

.. 

" 

Stapleton,  Thomas 

21 

.. 

" 

Stevens,  Daniel  F. 

21 

.. 

" 

Walker,  Robert 

23 

.,        ., 

» 

Wandling,  Charles 

20 

«        <> 

•• 

Wendell,  Jacob 

20 

u 

u 

Wilkinson, 
Alexander 
Wright,  James 

22 
19 

.4                    (I 

ik          a 

., 

TRANSFERRED 


To  30  RKGIMKNT,  N.  Y.  Volunteer  Infantry,  May  6,   1863. 


1st  LIEUTENANT. 


Silva, 

Francis 

A. 

May  13,  '61 

1st  Lieut. 

Transferred 
31,  1861. 

to  1st  Reg't  N. 

Y. 

Inf't'y, 

July 

SERGEANTS. 


O'Byrne 

^Michael 

C. 

20 

Aug. 

20, 

•61 

Private 
Co.  B. 

Transferred  to  this  company, 
promoted   corporal,    March 
geant,  date  not  stated. 

Aug 
5,    1 

.  31, 
862; 

1862; 
ser- 

CORPORALS. 


Holt,  Stephen  J. 
Singleton,  John 

20 
24 

Sept.   2,  '61 
Aug.   6,  '61 

Private 
Private 

Promoted  corporal, 
Promoted  corporal, 

May  1,  1862. 
March  5,  1863. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


629 


TRANSFERRED.— COMPANY  K.— Continued. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED, 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Anderson,  Alfred 

22 

Aug.  13,  '61 

Private 

Bliss,  Frank 

18 

"     12,  '61 

11 

Brady,  Terance 
Brower,  Austin 

22 

18 

u     30,  '62 
"      19,  '61 

Private 
Co.  I. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  26,   1862; 
to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Burke,  Richard 

20 

"       7,  '62 

» 

Campbell,  Thomas 
Chambers,  John 
Close,  James 

19 
21 

18 

"     26,  '62 
"     20,  '62 
"      9,  '61 

Private 
Co.  I. 
Private 
Co.  I. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  26,  1862; 
to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 
Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  26,  1862. 

Cox,  Albert 

19 

"    26,  '61 

11 

Demarest,  John  J. 

24 

Sept.  6,  '62 

" 

Dreyer,  John  H. 

19 

Aug.  19,  '61 

" 

1 

Ferris,  Charles  W. 
Finley,  William  N. 
Folks,  John  P. 

18 
20 
21 

"     18,  '62 
"     28,  '62 
Sept.  4,  '62 

Private 
Co.  I. 
Private 
Co.  I. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  26,  1862; 
to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 
Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  26,  1862. 

Transferred  to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Gibbons,  Edward  W. 

20 

"     16,  '62 

" 

Transferred  to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Hall,  David 

21 

8,  '62 

"• 

Hand,  Joseph  B. 
Hanson,  David 

28 
19 

Aug.  28,  '61 
"      7,   '62 

Private 
Co.  G. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Jan.  10,  1862. 

Hazlett,  James 

19 

Aug.  7,  '62 

M 

Hnlse,  Lewis  H. 

.. 

Oct.    8,   '62 

" 

Transferred  to  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Joost,  John 

23 

Sept.  29,  '62 

" 

Kelly,  John 

28 

Aug.  26,  '62 

" 

To  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863, 

Lock,  William  A. 

21 

Sept.  20,  '62 

" 

Lockry,  James 

25 

Aug.  21,  '62 

" 

To  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Lockwood, 
Charles  H. 
Martin,  William 

24 

18 

"     18,  '62 
"     19,  '61 

Mathews,  Joseph 
McFadden,  John 

21 
22 

7,  '62 
Sept.  2,  '61 

Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  26,  1862. 

McGinley,  Robert  Jr 

19 

Aug.  29,  '62 

11 

Merritt,  Isaac  M. 

18 

"      22,  '61 

11 

Mulvhill,  Michael 

20 

Sept.    2,  '62 

" 

Pendleton,   Sylvestei 

18 

Aug.  22,  '61 

" 

Purdy,  James  R. 

25 

"      13,  '62 

" 

Shields,  Charles  A. 

19 

"     23,  '61 

" 

Sutton,  Edward 
Wetteraw,  George  W 

27 
20 

Sept.  10,  '62 
Aug.  26,  '62 

Private 
Co.  D. 
Private 

Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  25,  1862; 
to  Morris'  battery  May  3,  1863. 
To  Morris'  battery,  May  3,  1863. 

Wright,  Andrew  J. 

32 

"       8,  '61 

44 

630 


MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


DISCHARGED. 


CAPTAINS. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN. 

RANK. 

Stiiier,  Joseph  N. 

28 

May  4,  '61 

Captain 

July  30,  1861,  by  resignation. 

Anthon,  John  H. 

Whiting, 
James  R.,  Jr. 

Sept.  3/61 

1st  Lieut. 

Commissioned  captain  ;  not  mustered  ;  dis 
charged  July  31st.  1861. 
Promoted  captain,  Nov.  23,  1861  ;  discharged 
by  resignation,  Sept.  30,  1862. 

LIEUTENANTS. 


Foster,  Frank  T. 

28 

May  4,   '61 

1st  Lieut. 

Discharged  by  resignation,  May  13,  1861. 

Doughty,  George  T. 

21 

May  4,  '61 

2d  Lieut. 

Discharged  by  resignation,  Aug  .  26,  1861  . 

Eytinge,  Harry 

19 

Corporal 

Promoted  sergeant,  Aug.  1,  1861;  2d  lieu 
tenant,  Sept.  22,  1861;  discharged  by  res 
ignation,  Dec.  6,  1861. 

SERGEANT. 


Fish,  Latham  A. 

19 

Aug.  2,  '61 

Private 
Co.  C. 

Promoted  corporal,  Oct.  1,1861;  transferred 
to  this  company,  Aug.  9,  1862;  promoted 
sergeant,  Aug.  19,  1862;  discharged  by 
promotion  to  2d  lieutenant  174th  N.  Y., 
Nov.  13,  1862. 

CORPORAL. 

Sullivan,  William 

22 

May  4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted  corporal,  May  20,  1861  ;  sergeant, 
July  15,  1861;  discharged  for  disability, 
June  2,  1862 

PRIVATES. 


Acker,  George 

21 

Sept.  13,'62 

Private 

For  disability,  Jan.  13,  1863, 

Blanchard,  Allan 

19 

May  4,  '61 

" 

For  disability,  Nov.  10,  1862,  at  New  York, 
N.  Y. 

Bowers,  George 

20 

ti       4» 

•« 

For   disability,   July   3,    1862,  at   Roanoke 

Island,  N.  C. 

Cox,  Michael 

20 

»i       t> 

<i 

For  disability,  Aug.   14,   1861,    at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Flanigan, 

26 

u       it 

Sergeant 

For  disability,  Aug.  14,    1861,  at  Newport 

Christopher 

News,  Va. 

Hanna,  Francis 

22 

41                 44 

Corporal 

For   disability,    June   1,    1861,    at   Riker's 

Island,  N.  Y. 

Hilderbrand,  Basil 

22 

It                 11 

Private 

For  disability,  Aug  14,    1861,  at   Newport 

News,  Va. 

Karker,  Lewis 

25 

11                 11 

" 

For  disability,  Nov.   18,  1861,    at   Hatteras 

Inlet,  N.  C. 

Mahon,  Michael 

32 

4«                 il 

11 

For  disability,    Aug.  14,  1861,   at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

McCarthy,  Thomas 

30 

Aug.  23,  '61 

'« 

For   disability,  Jan.  5,  1863,  at   Falmouth 

Station,  Va. 

McLaughliii, 
Alexander 

22 

May   4,  '61 

11 

For  disability,  Aug,  14,    1861,  at  Newport 
News,  Va. 

McSorley,  Lewis 

21 

"        " 

11 

For   disability,    Aug.  14,  1861,  at  Newport 
News,  Va. 

Monroe,  Robert 

19 

41               « 

•« 

For  disability,  Aug.    14,    1861,  at  Newport 

News,  Va. 

Morrison,  Thomas 

32 

Aug.  9,  '61 

« 

For  disability,   June   3,  1862,  at   Roanoke 

Island,  N.  C. 

Ritchie,  James 

20 

May  4,  '61 

" 

.For  disability,  Aug.  14,    1861,    at  Newport 
1    News,  Va. 

MUSTER-OUT  ROLL. 


631 


DISCHARGED.— COMPANY  K.— Continued. 

PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

REMARKS. 

WHEN.    |      RANK. 

Boss,  Henry 

18 

May  4,   '61 

Private 

May  29,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y. 

Schaffer,   Valentine 

30 

•k 

" 

For  disability,  June  18,  1861  . 

Shannan,  Sylvester 

19 

11 

11 

Junel,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y. 

Slierwin,  George  J. 

28 

u 

Corporal 

For  disability,  June  15,  1861  . 

Silva,  Valentine  M. 

18 

Aug.   9,  '61 

Private 

Dec.  18,  1862,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Skillery,  Charles 
Travis,  William 

19 

18 

May  4,  '61 

L, 

For  disability,  Aug.  14,  1861,  at  Newport 
News,  Va. 
For  disability,  May  11,  1861. 

Walsh,  John 
Yenny,  Joseph 

21 
22 

..            u 

» 

Feb.  3,  1863,  at  Falniouth  Station,  Va.,  by 
sentence  of  a  G.  C.  martial. 
For   disability,  Aug.   20,  1861,  at  Newport 
News,  Va. 

DIED. 

PRIVATES. 

Grunther,  John 
Rose,  Solomon 

21 

21 

Aug,  18,  '62 
May  15,  '61 

Private 

Sergeant 

Of  disease,  Dec.  24,  1862,  at  Point  Lookout, 
Md. 
Of  disease,  July  25,  1862,  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Scanlon,  Richard 

21 

"       " 

Private 

Of  wounds  received  in  action  at   Roanoke 
Island,  N.  C. 

DESERTED. 

PRIVATES. 

Browning,  John 

21 

May  4,   '61 

Private 

June  1,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y. 

Deck,  Francis 

21 

" 

" 

June  3,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y. 

Heidorf,  Anthony 
McCusker,Terence  15. 

Patterson,  Henry 

34 

21 

18 

Aug.  28,  '62 
May  4,  '61 

Sergeant 

Private 
Co.  D. 

Private 

Reduced,  date  not  stated;  deserted,  June  3, 
1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y. 
Transferred  to  this  company,  Oct.  15,  1862; 
deserted  at  Fredericksburg,  Va  ,  Dec.  15, 
1862,  in  face  of  the  enemy;  thought  to  be 
demented. 
June  1,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y. 

Peacock,  Francis  M. 
Starkey,  Thomas 

21 

"     14,  '61 
4,  '61 

Private 

Promoted    sergeant-major,  June     25,  1861 
capured  on  board  the  "Fanny,"  of  which 
he  was  in  command,  Oct.  1,  1861;   reduced 
to  the  ranks;  deserted  to  the  enemy  while 
a  prisoner. 
June  1,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y. 

Terry,  Edmund 

19 

it        « 

" 

June  1,  1861,  at  Riker's  Island,  N.  Y. 

Names  borne  on  the  Adjutant  General's  record  as  Unassigned, 
with  no  further  record  than  below. 


PRIVATES. 


NAME. 

AGE. 

MUSTERED. 

PLACE  AND  TERM  OF  ENLISTMENT. 

WHEN.    |       RANK. 

Allen,  Henry 

22 

Sept.  25,  '62 

Private 

At  New  York. 

Baker,  Edward 

21 

Oct.  15,  '62 

11 

At  New  York. 

Burdick,  Charles  D. 

19 

Nov.  13,  '62 

" 

At  New  York,  to  serve  nine  months. 

Burlingham,  Horace 

26 

"       8,  '62 

" 

At  New  York,  to  serve  nine  months. 

Byrnes,  William 

21 

"     18,  '62 

11 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Church,  Theodore 

23 

Sept.  20,  '62 

" 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Clark,  Lewis 

25 

Nov.  1,   '62 

" 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Cooney,  James 

21 

"     3,   '62 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Collins,  Joseph 

21 

Oct.  23,  '61 

»• 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Dunn,  Stuart 

21 

Sept.  9,  '62 

11 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Gardner,  Charles  W. 

34 

"     18,  '62 

•• 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Heuesey,  Patrick 

20 

Oct.   15,  '62 

" 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

L.e  Fort,  Einil 

25 

"     18,  '62 

« 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Meadows,  Robert 

23 

Aug.  27,  '62 

" 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Moore,  Thomas 

19 

Oct.  31,  '62 

» 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Mulligan,  Patrick 

24 

Sept.  25,  '62 

" 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years  . 

Morton,  John 

23 

Sept.  23,  '62 

" 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Mullan,  Arthur 

21 

Oct.   15,  '62 

*• 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Murphy,  James  C. 

21 

Sept.  11,  '62 

«' 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Murphy,  John 

21 

"       9,  '62 

11 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Murray,  James 

26 

Oct.  21,  '62 

" 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Pendergrast,  John 

25 

Sept.  24,  '62 

»« 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Reiley,  Patrick 

21 

Nov.    3,  '62 

it 

At  New  York,  toiserve  three  years. 

Ryan,  Michael 

21 

"       3,  '62 

" 

At  New  York,  to  serve  three  years. 

Hanlon,  George 

.... 

" 

Discharged  in  May,  1861  . 

ADDITIONS   AND    CORRECTIONS. 
BY  COLONEL  HAWKINS. 

Page  38. — Colonel  Hawkins  was  not  in  the  service  until 
1848,  after  active  hostilities  between  the  armies  had  ceased. 

Pages  170  and  171.  —  An  expedition  was  organized  for 
the  purpose  of  destroying  the  locks  of  the  Dismal  Swamp 
Canal.  It  was  originated  by  Captain  Rowan  of  the  Navy 
and  Colonel  Hawkins.  After  approval  by  General  Burn- 
side  a  plan  of  advance  was  agreed  upon.  Captain  Rowan 
was  to  command  the  naval  forces  and  Colonel  Hawkins 
the  land.  The  seventeenth  of  April  the  latter  received 
the  following  letter  : 

NEWBERNE,  April  16,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  COLONEL:  —  I  send  you  to-day  the  $ist  Pennsylvania,  a 
fine  regiment ;  embark  at  once  with  at  least  1,800  men,  and  be  ready 
for  an  immediate  move.  Don't  allow  the  slightest  communication 
with  the  Banks. 

Yours  truly, 

A.  E.   BURNSIDE. 
I'll  be  up  or  send  orders. 

On  the  morning  of  the  i8th,  without  a  word  of  explana 
tion,  General  Reno  appeared  with  two  regiments  of  his 
brigade  and  assumed  command,  and  the  original  plan 
agreed  upon  was  neither  mentioned  nor  carried  out. 

Pages  225  and  226.  —  The  news  about  the  fall  of  Rich 
mond  came  from  a  James  River  boat,  decked  out  in  flags, 
which  reached  Hampton  Roads  just  as  the  Roanoke  Island 
boat  was  leaving.  The  James  River  captain,  while  his 
boat  was  under  way,  answered  the  inquiry  about  his  dis- 


634  ADDITIONS  AND  CORRECTIONS. 

play  of  flags  by  saying,  "  Richmond  has  been  captured." 
On  board  the  Roanoke  Island  boat  there  was  a  Burnside 
staff  officer,  who,  with  the  captain  of  that  vessel,  repeated 
the  statement.  For  certain  reasons,  not  to  be  mentioned, 
Colonel  Hawkins  deemed  it  best  to  write  and  hand  to  the 
staff  officer  what  had  been  repeated,  at  the  same  time 
asking  him  to  explain  to  General  Burnside  the  facts  as  to 
its  source.  This  he  did  not  do,  but  handed  the  communi 
cation  over  without  comment. 

Page  480 — In  sixth  line  from  the  top  of  page  insert  the 
words  "  one  of  "  between  "  as  "  and  u  our." 

Page  497.  — Add  the  word  "  on  "  to  "  up  "  at  the  end  of 
first  line,  fourth  paragraph. 

Page  505.  —  In  eleventh  line  from  top  of  page  insert  be 
tween  the  words  "  times  "  and  "  imperishable  "  the  words 
"  to  conceive  and  bring  forth  those." 


ERRATA. 
Page  573.—  Last  line,  "  1872  "  should  be  k<  1862." 

Page  574. — Column  of  "Rank"  opposite  George  Haisel- 
den  should  read  "  Private,  Company  I,"  and  Edward  Hop 
kins,  "Private,  Company  A." 

Page  586.— Martin  Meyers,  and  all  the  others  whose 
names  follow  his  under  "  Mustered  out  with  the  company," 
were  mustered  in  on  May  4,  instead  of  "August  12,  1861." 


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®s 


YC  51187 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


M123152 


£533 
.5 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


